Paddling Through Rapids
by greenphantomme
Summary: What does it take to get a life back on track? For Rose, it might just take a wrench to a TV, voices in her head, breaking her ex-boyfriends nose, her cousin's hot roommate, and unintentionally signing up to be a bounty hunter. It's not the easiest road, but she's never really had things the easy way. (Eventual Scorose - language warnings)
1. A wrench and a lost shoe

August 8, 2026

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><p>This was it. This was <em>absolutely<em>, _positively_ the last straw. Rose Weasley stormed to the house soaking wet with a wrench still in her hand. She had been up to her knees in mud trying to fix the water pipe that was leaking under the ground in the backyard. Then the pipe burst and all the frustration and anger that had been building up the past few months came together at once and she snapped. All the logical reasoning left her brain and rage consumed her.

She tore open the door and slammed it shut behind her. She could hear the faint sound of a television in the living room and she gave a small scream in anger. She didn't even kick off her muddy shoes; she walked through the house caked in mud, stomping her way to the room.

"_YOU_!" she yelled, "YOU. . . YOU CAN'T. . . STOP. . . TV. . . NEVER. . . LAZY. . . _ARRGGHHH!_" She gave another scream and put her hands to her head. The man on the couch looked up at her in surprise through her outburst. Once upon a time that man was very special to her. Now she couldn't even remember what she even saw in him.

"Rosie, why are you all wet? You are getting mud everywhere; you better clean that up cupcake. And move, you're blocking the TV."

Rose flared her nostrils with each thing he said. "NO! _NOT_ ROSIE DUMBASS! AND ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? She dramatically pointed to the television with the wrench.

"Swear jar. That's two dollars my beautiful cauliflower."

"DO NOT CALL ME BLOODY, STUPID PETNAMES!" She waved her hands fanatically in the air. "I'M OUT. FUCK I'M LEAVING. . . BLOODY. . . RIDICULOUS!" She couldn't even form a complete sentence.

"Another two dollars. And pick me up some beers before you come back."

_Keep calm_, a soft, soothing voice said and Rose deflated a bit, trying to keep her rage under check. Logical reasoning came back to one itty bitty corner of her brain.

"Okay. No, Danny. I - _I'm serious_ this time. There's only so much of this I can take, and I've reached my limit - over it really. I'm leaving and not coming back, oh and I quit that fucking job also. You are a lazy son of a bitch who does nothing. _Ever_. Don't try to contact me in any way, don't talk to my family, and don't ever come looking for me."

Danny finally looked up in her in surprise. "Well, leave then. I always knew you would Rosie. I told you. I told you you wouldn't stay with me, even after everything we've been through."

She flared her nostrils again and she was pretty sure her ears twitched too. _He did not_. How dare he!

_Peacefully, then leave_, a different-weirdly-female voice said.

"My name is NOT Rosie!" She pointed the wrench at him. "Now, I'm going to pack my bags and you stay right-bloody-there. In front of that _damn_ televised crap, like always."

He didn't take notice of what she said and instead regarded her moodily. "Why do you have a wrench in your hand, peanut?"

No freakin' way. There went the logical reasoning.

Rose's mouth opened and closed without sound. He was enormously senseless! She had bloody well told him that he should fix the water pipe, but nooooo, he didn't want to get his arse off the couch. _Never_ did.

She saw red and her somewhat calmed mind instantly disappeared; it was in attack mode now.

_The TV. Aim for the TV_, a third-weirdly-male voice said.

She held her wrench up higher and walked over to the TV. It was all _this_ stupid things fault.

_Do it_, the voice said again.

Ignoring Danny's yells from the couch on what the hell she was doing, she let the wrench fall to the screen. Hard. A big dent appeared. Again and again her wrench went down and cracks appeared on the screen. Satisfaction ran through her with each hit. She smashed it one last time before Danny got there.

He wrapped his arms around her and violently picked her up to pull her away; she dropped the wrench to the floor. Rose kicked fiercely and struggled to get out.

"_MY TV_. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU PSYCHO BITCH!"

"YOU DESERVE IT ASSHOLE. LET. . . _GO_ OF ME!"

Rose struggled to get his arms off of her. She finally got one well aimed kick to his crotch and he practically threw her to the wall as he went down.

Rose thumped against the wall and felt her wrist twinge under her weight. She turned back around to face Danny who was on the ground, breathing hard. The red was slowly starting to clear from her eyes and she stared in shock. _If only I had my wand_, she thought. _D__amn I'm a bloody idiot_.

She raced to her's and Danny's room and grabbed a backpack from under the bed. There were a few things in the bottom but she had no time to dump it out. She started throwing everything she could see in it: clothes, shampoo, toothbrush, raincoat, some sandals. She was randomly grabbing things in her efforts to be quick. She couldn't recall if there was anything important she was forgetting.

After the backpack was almost full she zipped it up and peeked out the door, trying to see if Danny was up yet. The hallway was empty but she couldn't hear any whimpers or swears from the living room anymore. It was extremely silent; she could hear the clock ticking in the kitchen. She was on edge as she swung the backpack over she shoulders. Rose cautiously took some steps into the hallway, walking close to the wall so the floor wouldn't squeak under her. She tried to control her breathing.

_Get out of the house as fast as you can_, the female voice said.

_No. Find him one more time and give him a good lump on his head. Pick that lamp up_, the male voice said.

Rose shook her head as though talking to someone, but her focus was entirely on walking quietly down the hallway. She still couldn't hear any noises anywhere. Her heart was beating faster and faster. She was almost at the end of the hallway now. She didn't know – should she do the front door or the back door? But Danny jumped in the opening before she could decide. He had a crazed look on his face. He wasn't expecting her to be so close and froze up for a moment.

_Damn it! Next time decide quicker, no more element of surprise now_, she thought.

The two stared at each other in silence before Danny broke the peace and let out a war cry. He swung his fist at her and she ducked. His fist hit the wall and broke through; making a large hole in the drywall. Two pictures fell from the wall farther down the hallway and cracked against the floor. Rose darted to the side of him, hoping to slip past while he was occupied with his fist still in the wall, but his body reacted quicker than she thought. He body-checked her just as she was passing and she slammed into the wall, her face hitting the corner. She fell to the floor but rolled away from him, sitting back up in a crouching position so she would be ready to move fast. She had heard a crack in her rib area and there were sharp pains in her side and face that she couldn't worry about right now. Danny was facing her again.

"That was _my TV_, bitch. _MY TV_. You don't have the right to hurt my baby," he said in an almost sob.

Rose stared at him, amazed, with all her nerves on end and gave a stunned laugh, "I don't know if it's sadder that you care more about a TV than a real person, or the fact that I have been with you for almost two years. I'm disgusted with myself, _really_."

_Move NOW_, the soothing-first-voice said.

Rose dove to the side as Danny came charging and he missed her; his large body not quick enough to pivot with her. She crawled to the door quickly and opened it. She was just about outside when she felt him grab her foot and pull backwards.

"You are _not_ leaving. You will buy me a new TV and work to make this up to me. You can't quit your job, because we need the money. Fucking see some sense Rose," Danny said, gripping her foot.

"Let go of me," growled Rose, ignoring the vile coming from his mouth. She held the doorframe in one hand and was desperately trying not to let it go as Danny attempted to pull her into the house. Her arms were straining and her fingers were losing grip. Desperately she lifted her other leg in a weird angle and brought it smashing down hard onto Danny's nose. He let go with a cry as his hands went to his face and her legs dropped to the floor. She was free. She kicked off her half pulled off shoe and stood up, racing out the door into the sun.

She took her first left and then right. She cut across a park and a few schoolyards, still sprinting. She stepped on countless rocks and her bare foot felt bruised and cut, but she kept going.

She didn't stop running until she felt she was so far away that she was on another continent. Only then did she halt and allow herself to catch her breath. Her hands were on her knees and her breath was deep and raggedy as she looked around at her surroundings.

It was a very beautiful day in the summer. She was in a park she had never been to before and she looked rapidly around her trying to get her bearings. There were families on picnics, playing Frisbee and soccer, dogs running, and kids laughing. She felt a bit out of place.

She noticed the people who walked past her look at her funny. _Yes, I should expect that_, she thought. She had one shoe missing, her jeans and shirt were muddy and even better, she had on her old ratty _Cookie Monster_ t-shirt with the sleeves cut off. She was a mess, simply put, not to mention the bruise that was probably forming on her face.

However, in spite of her external looks, she felt decidedly amazing on the inside. Rose felt relieved, shocked, happy - everything. Even a tad guilty, unfortunately. She finally dumped her boyfriend's sorry arse for good, quit her useless job, and left. It was something she should have done months ago, but didn't. She was riding high on cloud nine, at least for the moment. She felt like she could do a happy dance.

Finally having caught her breath, she stretched her arms up and tried to inhale deeply but then promptly collapsed on herself when she felt a sharp pain in her side. Right, her ribs. She needed to get them looked after.

She _could_ go to a Muggle hospital for it would be closer, but they would do practically nothing, not to mention ask questions she didn't want to answer. Or, she could go to her cousins' flat where all three of them were in training to be Healers and get instant relief. But she also needed her wand too, and Albus unfortunately had that way on the other side of town.

Regardless of what she needed to do she still didn't know where she was so she started limping towards the road she saw in the distance. Before she could get very far, two old ladies, one with a cane, came up to her and started talking to her.

"No vagrants allowed in the park. Young lady, this is a family area and you are a disgrace right now, especially to the proper women here. We will call the police if you don't leave immediately," screeched one of the ladies, who was missing a few teeth.

"_Pardon_? I'm not a vagrant."

"That's what your generation says, but we know differently," the other lady wheezed.

"Scram now!" said the first lady. She picked up her cane and gave Rose a good whack in the shins.

"_Ouch_, geezus. I'm going, I'm going. Don't lose your wigs now," Rose said scathingly and left the old ladies muttering about the new generation of young adults and how impolite they were.

She reached the road without any further incident and luckily there was a map of London there for tourists. She frowned at the distance she would have to walk to her cousin's flat. With no wand or wizard money, she couldn't get to her cousins place by apparition or the Knight Bus. She checked her backpack for her muggle things: her wallet and her cellphone, and cursed. She _would_ forget them. Definitely no chance for the muggle hospital now and Rose sure as hell wasn't going back to an angry ex-boyfriend to retrieve them. She would just have to walk to her cousins. She still had about nine hours before sundown so it was doable.

Rose rolled up her muddy pants a few times and put on the pair of hiking sandals she randomly had thrown in the backpack. The lone shoe went to the garbage. She wouldn't need it. The empty water bottle in her backpack was filled with water at the fountain and then she found a ponytail and put her frizzy red hair up. As she started walking, she almost laughed. She couldn't walk, not really. She was hobbling along, her foot almost too sore to bear her weight. But there wasn't anything else she could do so she set out, aiming north.

_You should steal that skateboard, it will be quicker_, a voice said in her mind and she blinked in surprise.

"What?" Rose said out loud, looking around her and then seeing the skateboard on the ground by her feet she jumped in surprise.

_Don't listen to the fool. Just walk to the flat nice and peaceful like_, another voice said.

"What the hell?" Rose said again but quieter this time.

_Sorry, we forgot to introduce ourselves. My name is Marta and the other unfortunate soul is Greg. Don't listen to him though. He is bad news bears_, the same voice said again.

_Oh my god, I'm going crazy_, thought Rose as she walked past the skateboard and up the street.

There was a loud cough in her mind and the male sounding voice said, _not at all sweetheart, we are your guiders, or your instincts if you please._

_We are not your instincts, that is a different voice. He only talks to you in times of need or when you need specific guidance. No, we are you. We are both different sides of you however, like your consciences. You could, metaphorically speaking, think of me as your guardian angel, and Greg as your guardian devil_.

_I am not a devil_, an outraged Greg shouted in her mind.

_Keep trying to convince yourself of that_, Marta said to Greg and then said to Rose, _he would be the one to tell you to pop the bicycle tires on a kids bike. He's that sort._

_She's not some pre-pubescent moody teenager! I wouldn't ever say that to her. . . But sweetheart if you wanted to, I wouldn't stop you._

"I think. . . I've heard your voices before. . . back when we were at the house," Rose said hesitantly, sure she was losing her mind and talking out loud would only be confirming it.

_Damn rights you did. Told you you should have grabbed that lamp_, Greg said indignantly.

_Like that would have helped her, she finally decides to leave for good and you try to make her stay longer? Not smart advice I'd say_.

_Of course you would say that. You're Miss Goody-Two Shoes. Rose needs some spice in her life, it's who she is._

Marta sighed. _I know, that is why I have to deal with you right now. Anyway Rose, we will be here for you for however long we are. Who really knows the whims of witches? But there is nothing else to say right now, so have a good walk, don't pop any bicycle tires, and don't make rash decisions._

_You could kick some cats though, or grumpy old ladies_, Greg whispered and then everything was silent.

"Holy fuuu_uck_. I am going crazy. Walk Rose, walk," she whispered to herself and didn't think anything more of it as she limped through London. She had the map mentally in her mind of where to go and didn't let stray thoughts of going crazy, Danny, or all the weird looks she was getting deter her.

She made surprisingly good time. It was just after supper when she came up to the apartment where Dominique, Molly, and Lucy lived. She was sweaty and hot; her backpack that was light at first felt like it weighed a tonne now; her cheek, foot, wrist, and side were throbbing; and she was seeing double and tripping over her feet from exhaustion.

She walked into the foyer and over to the phone. The building was a hotel in the lower floors, but there were apartments on the upper floors for residents. It was rather high end, especially for students. The receptionist looked like she was about to call security with the way she stared openly at Rose.

She pressed the number to her cousin's apartment on the phone and ignored everyone else in the foyer. She heard the other end get picked up but then nobody said anything, she only heard a voice in the background say: "No Lorcan. Don't you _dare_ say anything! You are not supposed to answer the - no, give it. _Give it_. Don't-"

A male voice then came over the line, "Weasley Residence, how may I help you?"

"Uhh, Hey. . . _Lorcan. . . _ can you buzz me up?" Rose heard more noises that sounded like a scuffle and then her cousin's voice came on.

"Hello, uhh sorry about that. Who. . . is this?"

"Rose. Buzz me up!"

"Hmmm oh Rose. I don't know any Rose's. Sorry."

"Your bloody cousin, Lucy! Buzz me up!"

"_Holy Mother of Merlin_ can you not get my name right? Can _anybody_ get my name right? Just because me and Lucy are identical twins _does not mean_ that we sound the same! Honestly, her voice is way lower than mine."

Rose cracked a small smile at that even though it hurt her cheek. She heard in the background a shout from Lucy of 'not even Molls.'

Rose continued, "okay sorry Molly but-"

"Oh no big deal, besides sometimes I even forget who is who. Anyways how are things? Hope you didn't bring Danny with you this time, I'm cleaning dishes with my wand right now - and oh shit, that slipped, please say he is not here cause I don't want to obliviate him again. Oh bloody hell I can't keep my mouth shut, sorry Rose I-"

"_Molly_, he isn't with me! Can you please buzz-"

"Oh thank goodness! I was really worried there for a moment. Please say my parents aren't with you either!"

"_Your parents-?_ Fuck Molly, no, just-"

"Oh good. Gosh I feel like my heart is beating like a hummingbirds', crazy. See my parents don't know about Lorcan yet and sometimes they stop by randomly. Oh and the reason why I didn't acknowledge your name at the start was because I thought it was Rose Daphne, you know, that annoying old lady from down yonder who always forgets her keys-"

Rose sighed and pretended to bang her head against the wall a few times. Of course Molly would be the one to pick up.

"-and you usually telephone us before you come to warn and all. Just to be more muggle, cause Danny doesn't know anything. But I guess you are practically muggle anyways now since you started dating him a billion years ago. So I mnmnmnh-"

Molly got cut off and a new voice came on the line, the voice of Dominique. "Wow that girl doesn't shut up and Lucy is too busy laughing her arse off to save you. Sorry I just flooed in, are you on your way over?"

"No, I'm in the bloody foyer right now. Buzz me up, _please_!"

"Damn sailor, swear jar didn't work? And you are buzzed in righhhhhht now. We'll chat when you get up here. Ciao."

Rose hung up the phone and the door opened to the stairs. About bloody time.

x-x-x-x-x

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><p><strong><em>AN: Folks, this is the harshest language will be. No other chapters will have as much either._**


	2. An unknown potion and Floo powder

August 8, 2026

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><p>The door was open and so Rose just walked in without knocking. She painfully bent down and took off her sandals. It was a struggle to lift herself up, she had to use the wall for help. She could see Molly facing the living room as she flicked her wand at the dishes in the sink every few seconds.<p>

"Hey Rose! We're all just in the. . ." Her voice trailed off as she fully turned around.

"Cat's finally got your tongue Molly?" Dominique said. "Is she wearing a dress or something?"

There were a few sounds of laughter from Dominique and Lucy. Molly didn't reply but walked to Rose and half supporting her brought her into view.

The laughter died off quickly as they walked into the living room.

Lorcan and Dominique were sitting on the couch with Lucy perched on the arm and the latter two were staring. Lucy, Molly's identical twin with shorter brown hair but the same big blue eyes, opened and closed her mouth numerous times without saying anything. Dominique, who had blonde hair and was the shortest of all people in the flat, reeled back into the couch in surprise as she looked at Rose. Lorcan didn't even notice the awkward silence as he had been reading a magazine when she first walked in.

Rose gave a pointed look at him and then to Molly. Molly widened her eyes and nodded.

"Hey, Lorcan, I'm going to have to kick you out for a moment, family meeting right now, alright?" Molly said smoothly and quickly.

Lorcan looked up at her curiously and then finally noticed the person she was standing beside. He looked at Rose and blinked multiple times, slowly putting his magazine down. Molly left Rose standing and went over to whisper in his ear. Rose started leaning against the wall, too tired to stand up straight while the silence hovered in the air, heavy and awkward.

"Are. . . you sure?" Lorcan asked Molly with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah, Rose won't talk at all if you are here. She has this complex thing where she can't speak openly in front of strangers. Not that you're really one. . ._ But. . ._"

Lorcan looked nervously between Rose and Molly, "well... errrr.. "

Rose, tired of waiting while Lorcan sat there, proclaimed, "Lorcan, sorry, but get the hell out of here."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Unnecessary, Rose."

Molly whispered again to him. Lorcan nodded and stood up, kissing Molly on the cheek, waving good bye to Dominique and Lucy, and saying an awkward "Bye" to Rose. He then grabbed some Floo powder from beside the fireplace and disappeared.

Once again, the room descended into a silence.

"So, you last visited – what, three months ago? What is -" Dominique started, unsure if she should start talking about how Rose looked, but immediately got cut off by Lucy.

"Rose, did you get jumped?" asked Lucy bluntly.

The three girls looked at Rose intently and she stared past them all out the window.

"Uhh, funny story, but not at all. Well. . . I broke up with Danny."

Dominique let out a big guffaw at that. "Yeah, sure. Like you did the other dozen times too?"

Molly cut her off with an angry glare. Lucy rolled her eyes and asked Rose, "do you want to sit down or something-?"

When Rose nodded and started moving towards the chair closest to her Dominique yelled out, "_just wait_-" She ran off down the hall and came back with a sheet and put it over the chair, "OK, now you can sit."

Rose wanted to make some sarcastic comment, but the effort was too much. She vaguely heard Lucy tell Dominique to be less shallow because it was just a stupid chair. Rose collapsed into the chair and continued the conversation from where it had left off previously. "No, trust me on this. I am one hundred percent serious. Me and Danny are _Over_, with a capital O."

Lucy gave her a disbelieving look. "Mhmmm, sure you are. Then the next day you make up with him and have _'raging hot sex,'_ apparently. I mean you've never shown up here looking like this, but you've always gone back."

"Jealous much?" Dominique said to Lucy and she glared back.

"Why would I be jealous? I'm just repeating what Rose says every time."

"'Cause you still have your v-card."

"Doesn't faze me. It's not like it's a bad thing! Anyway, _focus_!" Lucy shot back and then they both looked at Rose.

Rose gave a garbled sigh. "Heh. . . well, sure in the past we've gotten back together after breakups, but it was complicated. . . this time, well it's a bit. . . different. We didn't part on a very good note this time. Not at all."

None of her cousins knew the whole story between Danny and Rose, and she wanted to keep it that way. She hated talking about the past and bringing up her skeletons.

Molly shot up from the couch and exclaimed with a pointed hand straight to Rose, "_oh my god_! That bruise! He hit you!"

Everyone gawked at Rose and she blushed.

"No! . . . no he didn't. Well I mean he tried to and all. But it wasn't like that."

"Rose, your eye has swelled shut and your cheek is purple," Lucy said, pointing out the obvious.

"Oh, so that is why my vision was doubling. It went all wonky during my walk here and I was wondering why." Rose ran her hand in front of her eye a few times. "Well I guess I can't even see out of that eye."

Lucy's eyebrows shot up, "wait, you. . . walked_ here_? From your _house_?"

"Merlin, Rose. Are you crazy?" Dominique said disapprovingly.

Thinking of the voices she had heard and talked to, she almost responded with an affirmative but then changed her answer at the last moment, "No – I just had no money, wizard or muggle, and forgot my cell, and didn't know your numbers." Rose paused. "At least it wasn't raining."

"Damn girl. You could have gotten a taxi and we would have paid for it here," Dominique replied.

Rose just stared open mouthed at that. "Well that was the one thing I didn't think of."

Lucy frowned at Rose, "have you even seen your face in the mirror?"

"Nope. Don't think I want to," Rose replied.

"I think you should. . ." Molly said. "It's very oddly shaped. Definitely doesn't look like a fist now that I think of it. There is a very dark line from your eye to your chin. Why is it so straight? It almost looks as if you ran into a coffee table or got hit with a ruler or book? Something along those lines, because bruises usually are more disfigured, you know?"

"How lovely," retorted Rose, "and I don't think I can stand up to go look so I will just take your word for it."

"Oh it's not lovely at all. It looks nasty in fact. And why can you not stand up, it seems to-"

Lucy cleared her throat to interrupt her. "Tell us what happened?" she said. Molly looked at Lucy and scrunched her nose in disgust saying back, "okay, I can take a hint. _Geez_."

Dominique sympathetically patted Molly's hand as Lucy sniggered at her.

Rose sighed and stared at the wall, not wanting to see the reactions that her cousins would give her. She ran a hand over her hair and gripped her ponytail for support.

"Well," she began, "I kind of lost it on Danny today. For the two years all he has been doing is watching that damn television, drinking beer, and sitting on the sofa every day, all friggin day. It didn't start out like that, but it just got worse and worse. It was just me working and doing all the work around the house. . . not that I really minded because I have to be busy, and he was recovering. It's just I can't live with him when that's all he does and just demands, demands, demands." Rose took another breath. "I mean, at the beginning I understood, because well - everyone told me to just give it time and he had a lot to go through, we both did. But I gave it loads of time! I don't even know when he changed from that young adventurous man to this lazy TV addict. It happened so slowly and I don't know if he'll ever go back to being, well, himself."

Rose paused and then continued, "he just gained a shit load of weight and gave up on himself, on everything. And so yeah. . . anyway. . . well you guys know how I get when I'm mad, but times that by about 500. I. . . ah... took a wrench to his TV and then that was when _he_ lost it and then we got into a minor scuffle and long story short I came here to get some tender loving care from my cousins."

Now that it was out, she felt deflated. She was tired; she just wanted the numbness in her face and body to go away.

"_A wrench to his TV_?" Lucy exclaimed.

"_A scuffle_?" Molly blurted.

Rose shrugged but didn't say anything. She had nothing left to say.

"So, you haven't had sex in how long?"

There was a very pregnant pause.

"What? That's what you took from _that_?" asked Lucy disappointedly.

Dominique flipped her blonde hair over her shoulders, "I was kinda just kidding. You guys both said something and so I thought I had to as well and that was the first thing that popped up! It was comic relief! But you know, I guess it also is important for a young woman. Oh get over it Lucy, don't make that face."

"The things you think of sometimes. . . " she said with a shake of her head. "So you came here because you want us to heal you? What are all your injuries?"

Rose grimaced and then somewhat reluctantly said, "well, my foot for one from stepping on rocks and other things. And my wrist, and then my ribs, and my bruise on my face. . . what? It's not like it's _that_ much."

"I'm pretty sure you could charge him for domestic violence," said Molly seriously, "that sounds serious Rose."

Rose flapped her hand at her. "No, besides I started it with the TV incident, and I might have, _you know_, broken his nose too."

"Merlin, Rose. When you end a relationship, you certainly know how to end a relationship on a bad note!" remarked Lucy with a small chuckle.

"Right! Now that I think of it, remember Kobe Bragger? You poured gravy down his head. And Sean Partigan? You pushed him into the Black Lake. . . "

"Yes, yes but we can discuss past ex's later." Lucy stood up and walked over to Rose going into Healer mode and evaluating her. "Okay Dom, you go get the bruise balm or make some if we don't have any. Molly, find a sleeping draft or calming draft or something else relevant in our cupboard, I'm sure we have something somewhere. I'll get started on her injuries."

Dominique stood up and faced Lucy, whining. "Awwwh, why do I have to make the bruise balm? I had to make a couple hundred litres for volunteer work. I'm sick of it."

Molly answered for Lucy. "Maybe because you got the highest mark in that class and are the best at potions and that's what your going to be when you're done school! That's the reason why Luce is doing spells and I'm just looking for the draft. _Duh_."

Dominique sniffed. "Fine Sparky."

Molly looked incredulously at Dom. "I have no words to say to you right now, Boomerang." They both started walking and bickering. Dominique replying with a "that's a first, you having to words to say. Someone should document this, you're making history right now!"

The two left the living room and Lucy looked at Rose, tapping her chin in thought.

Still slumped in the chair, Rose stated, "I'm not getting naked for you."

Lucy chided, "I'm not asking you to get completely naked for me, but your shirt does need to come off. We're cousins young'un. Besides, we practically ran around together naked all the time when we were little."

"Can't you just wave your wand and go 'presto'?"

"Are you sure you remember how to be a witch?" Lucy said with a laugh. "Besides, how can I fix your ribs? For someone who spends a lot of time naked, you sure seem insecure about your body."

"I _don't_ spend a lot of time naked and I'm not insecure. . . I just don't like flaunting it. Or you know, showing stuff that doesn't need to be shown."

Dominique walked back to the living room juggling a few different containers. "You were born in the wrong century girl. It's called women empowerment. You are allowed to show skin you know. It's not the medieval ages. And it's not like you have boobs anyways."

Lucy and Rose both ignored her. "Sit up, Rose," commanded Lucy.

When Rose didn't move Lucy pulled her hand until Rose was in a sitting position. That ignited an "ow" from Rose.

"Yes, yes, you hurt. But shirt off and I will fix it right up."

Rose raised her arms carefully wincing a bit and Lucy pulled the shirt off. She ran her wand over Rose's ribs, muttering under her breath.

"Okay, so nothing _too_ major, you have two cracked ribs. Make your back straighter," she said to Rose and Rose pulled her shoulders back. Lucy then muttered a charm and Rose felt her side heat up and then cool down again. It then got warm again and stayed warm for a few minutes.

"Ta-Da! All healed, well don't move for a minute or so just to make sure it is set. Now let's see. . . your foot now, and then wrist."

Same ordeal, Lucy ran her wand over Rose's foot, cleaning up the cuts and scrapes with some simple spells, and over her wrist, taking down the swelling. When she was finished, Lucy stood up and handed Rose back her shirt. Rose could feel energy coming back to her; she felt wonderful and was no longer tired. She had to move around.

Lucy called out, "Molls, have you found the draft yet?"

"Ummm nope. All's I can find is this Vomit-Inducing draft. Why do we have so much of it?"

"Well, I'm not sure actually, but whatever, no big deal, I'm sure Rose will be fine without the draft tonight," Lucy replied.

Rose stood up and put her shirt on, jumping and bending to test out the newly healed limbs and bones. She started running on the spot, testing out pressure on her foot. This urge to move around was increasing. "I feel way better, thanks a billion Luce."

"No problemo, that's what cousins are for. Umm, just take it easy for a few moments though." She gave Rose a severe look and then paused and looked at Dom through the large wall window between the living room and the kitchen. "You got the bruise balm all ready?"

Dominique scowled. "Lucy, these things take time. If you want to get rid of the bruises real quick but improperly, then you do it."

Lucy held up her hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. Sorry. . . wait – Rose, _stop jumping on the couch and come here_. Did you already forget what I said? The healing shouldn't have made you loopy! Come here, I'm going to take down the swelling in your face."

Rose ignored Lucy and jumped again waving her arms overenthusiastically. "I feel so great and have so much energy! I can finally do my happy dance Luce! Take _that_ Danny!"

"Definitely loopy, told you I should have done the healing," Dominique said playfully.

Lucy walked over to the couch and grabbed both of Rose's hands, pulling her down. She replied back to Dominique, "well, if you had done it she would probably be running through the apartment naked!"

Dom gave a loud groan. "I _knew_ you were going to say that! That was one time! And in our first year. Of course I've improved my spells since then. But I'm still unsure if James was actually influenced by my healing. Molly's friend was over. I personally think he was showing off."

Molly walked into the kitchen at that point carrying two bottles and set them on the counter. "That was disgusting. I still get nightmares from that. So, didn't find any calming drafts anywhere, but I found these two bottles unmarked in the cupboard at the back and I'm thinking we, as in you, should figure out what they are and label them."

"Okay, I'll be done the bruise balm in fifteen more minutes. Start the fires and prep them?" Molly nodded to Dominique and then took out two separate cauldrons from a cupboard in the kitchen and dumped one bottle in each one, turning on the stove fan. Lucy meanwhile, took down the swelling in Rose's face and healed the minor concussion.

"No jumping until tomorrow okay? Take it easy you hyper kid. Your face is still black and blue but it will be better to not fix that with a spell, same with your wrist. So you will still be sore for some time still."

Rose gave a gleeful laugh. "Okay. That's fine, I already feel a million times better and I will contain myself for right now. Besides, I'm hungry, haven't eaten since this morning so I am definitely going to raid your refrigerator. Better have leftovers of something!"

"Pizza and I think there is some chocolate milk," Molly said concentrating on spelling the counter-tops so they wouldn't burn and then making a fire, setting the two cauldrons on it.

"Perfect!" Rose grabbed the pizza box and the jug of chocolate milk from the fridge and went to the living room to sit down in the sheet covered chair. She opened the box and started devouring the pieces in it.

"Taker easy," Lucy said in amusement, waving her wand over the sofa. She then muttered to Rose, "you're lucky Dom can't see the couch from her angle. You got mud everywhere!"

Rose gave a sheepish grin but continued to eat.

Five minutes later Molly's voice came floating over the air, "Seriously? _Veritaserum_? Why in the world do we have _veritaserum_ in our cupboard? Do you know how much this is worth? Not to mention how _illegal_ it is?"

Rose and Lucy rushed to the kitchen to look. Dominique laughed at them as she stirred the contents in the cauldron. "It's odourless and colourless. What did you come rushing here for? There is nothing to see!"

The two girls looked at each other in realization. Rose exclaimed, "well fine then, we'll just go sit right back down."

They went back to the living room - Rose to her pizza and milk, and Lucy to cleaning up the couch. Both of them were listening in on the conversation happening in the kitchen.

"Remember that guy you brought over one night with the blue hair. Wasn't he some black market worker in illicit potions?" Molly asked Dominique.

"Oh I suppose. . . yes I can see it being him who left it. He's been over a few more times since when you two weren't home, and a few times to my lab. But then again. . . I can't really see him leaving something that valuable. The first person I thought of was one of the freaky goth or whatever triplets that come over for tea for their probation counselling with you. One of them is a witch, though I have no idea which one. Do you recognize the other potion?"

"They aren't goth. And the – well, I don't think so... I'm not quite sure what it is. I certainly don't recognize it, but it has some-"

"Yeah, some similar properties to veritaserum. Very odd. . ."

"Lucy come here," Molly called.

"What am I – chopped fish bones?" Rose said as Lucy started walking to the kitchen.

"Ha! Rose, you almost failed potions. But your welcome to come take a guess too if you'd like," said Lucy.

Rose sighed dramatically. "Oh I'm hurt by you all. However as my stomach is filled, it is high time I go get my wand now! Can I borrow one of yours to apparate to Al's place?"

Molly peered through the kitchen window at Rose. "Floo's over there," she said with a nod.

"She is allergic to Floo powder Molly," Dominique said distractedly as she peered into the potion. She was frowning in thought.

Molly looked slighted for a moment. "What – no? _Really_?"

Lucy walked over to Molly and gave her a flick to her forehead. "Of course not! She just doesn't like it." She turned to Rose and looked at her with a shake of her head, "but Rose you haven't done magic in practically four years. I think you would be a hazard to everyone if we gave you one of our wands."

Rose stood up, facing her three cousins through the kitchen window and put her hands on her hips. "I would not!"

"Do you even remember how to apparate?" Lucy shot back.

"Of course!"

"What are the three C's to apparition?" Lucy challenged.

Dominique looked at Lucy, startled, but Lucy just winked.

"C's of apparition? You are making that up! There is no such thing!"

Molly nodded, catching on, "you betcha there are! If you can't name them, then you have to go by Floo."

"_What_? Bloody hell this is _ridiculous_! I don't know them!"

"Floo then," stated Lucy with an eyebrow raised.

Rose frowned and said the first things that came to her mind. "Combustion? . . . crazy? And. . . well. . . honestly I have no idea. I can't think of anything that starts with a C! . . . _cat_?"

Lucy smiled evilly. "Floo powder's on the left hand side. We'll see you back in a bit."

Rose stomped over to the fireplace and grabbed some Floo powder, stepping carefully and distastefully into the fireplace. She crossed her fingers and closed her eyes, firmly saying "Albus Potter, Outback Flat." She disappeared in a burst of flames.

Dominique turned to Lucy. "Hogwarts was so long ago so I can't quite remember - but they're not C's, right?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "No clue actually, I'm thinking it was either D or L. I'm pretty sure one of them was Destination or maybe Location. . . But I knew Rose would have no idea either. Yeah, anyway, I don't recognize this potion at all."

Molly thought for a moment with pursed lips. "Well I will just bottle it up and label it unknown or something. It's not a big deal, probably something we will come across in the future with what we do in class."

She carefully poured the potions back into the bottles while Lucy leaned against the counter and Dominique stirred her concoction.

"Ok. Bruise balm ready. If Rose only waited a few more minutes. . . but I guess she needed to see Al for her wand." Dominique furrowed her eyebrows in thought. ". . . She went to see Al. . . Why does that seem weird?" She gasped then as realisation struck her. "_Holy stilettos_! She went to see Al! Does she know about his new roommate?"

Lucy looked sharply at Dominique with a beam on her face. "Oh! Crap! No, I don't believe she does!"

Dominique sighed. "Oh darn. And she looks like an _absolute_ troll right now. We should have made her shower and change and do something with that horrible afro she was rocking!"

Molly giggled. "Oh, she is going to kill_ uuus_! And then throw our bodies in the _oceaaan_, and we will become shark _meeeat. . . _" she partly sang as she walked down the hall with the unidentifiable potion and the veritaserum to put back into the storage cabinet.

Dominique turned to Lucy with a small frown, blowing her bangs up from out of her eyes, "should we go there to get her? In case she 'loses it' again? There is a great possibility of more injuries for the one, two, or three parties present."

Lucy responded, "well it's too late now I'd say. And I'm sure _he_ can handle our Rosie at her finest. It's time she gets a blast from the past anyways. She can't run forev_er_. . ."

Dominique quirked an eyebrow. "Well, I hope Al's apartment can survive the onslaught. She is really going to kill us you know. _Eeeks_. . . "

x-x-x-x-x


	3. A shower curtain and a wand

August 8, 2026

* * *

><p>And this was why Rose hated Floo powder with a passion. Blindly groping the walls, she walked carefully forward. Soot was in her eyes and she was pretty sure all over her. Coughing, she called her cousin Albus's name with no response. She couldn't bloody see at all, her eyes were burning!<p>

"No good, rotten cousin who has my bloody wand," Rose growled under her breath as she advanced a few steps forward.

She yelled out loud, "_THIS_ is the part where you acknowledge my presence Albus Potter! _Hellllooo_, cousin in need of help – _ouch goddammit_, why is there a table right here?" Rose scowled and leaned down to rub her shin. With hands outstretched she walked a few more steps forward, carefully sliding her feet to avoid any more structures on the ground as she made her way to the stairs. Her stomach was rumbling uncomfortably from the combination of eating right before magically transporting through the chimney.

The one bathroom in Albus's apartment was on the second floor, along with the two bedrooms. Al's previous roommate was one of his best friends from school, Ty Lockwood, but he had found a girl a year ago and moved out, leaving the room empty. Or so Rose thought.

She was halfway to crawling up the stairs when she realized the shower was running. She grumbled out loud narrating her thoughts to herself again, "oh, so that's the reason idiot cousin can't help blind Rose, 'cause he is taking a bloody shower. Brilliant. Prepare to be surprised Al Butthead."

She reached the top of the stairs and trailed her hand along the wall on the left side until she felt the doorway of the bathroom. She tried the doorknob and understandably it was locked, but Rose knew a trick way to open the door.

A voice interrupted her first though, the voice of the 'conscience,' Marta: _Rose, is this the smartest idea? Perhaps you should patiently wait downstairs first while Albus finishes. Or use the kitchen sink to wash your eyes._

"Of course it's smart," Rose muttered, "I'm already up here. I'm not going back down without being able to see." She pushed the doorknob in and then lifted it up as she turned, using her shoulder to open the door.

Predictably she tripped as soon as she entered the shower for the clothes that were strewn on the ground that she couldn't see.

She called out, "yup, thanks Al. You could have picked up your clothes you know." She picked herself up and then turned towards the counter, using her hands to feel the sink area. She turned on the water, ignoring whatever Al was saying in the background.

_Instant relief_. The coolness of the water soothed her sore eyes and she scrubbed them, trying to get all the soot out of them. She really hated Floo with a passion. She heard the shower being turned off and then the curtain being pulled back.

"So Al, I know I said to never give it back to me, but I really need my wand!" Rose stated, blinking and looking in the fog filled mirror and grimacing at what she could see of her appearance. Those old ladies in the park would have probably just called the police first and not given her a cane whacking if she had entered the park like this.

Then the voice that Rose thought she would never again hear in her life drifted across the air. The voice of a person she tried to escape from right after Hogwarts had finished. "What in Merlin's name are you doing in this bathroom Rose Weasley?"

Just upon hearing that voice her heartbeat quickened. Instantly Rose turned towards the voice and she screamed at the sight that met her eyes. "Malf – what the hell?" she cried out, trying to control her breathing. "Where – but – why – _Albus?_" she finished weakly and then realizing she was staring very blatantly she shut her eyes, putting her hands out in front of her to try to shield his body.

Scorpius Malfoy was standing in front of her in only a towel and soaking wet. His wet blonde hair was ruffled all over on top of his head and he was staring at her with his very brown eyes. She needed to get out of the bathroom so she wouldn't stare at him. Rose started walking backwards with eyes closed and promptly tripped over the clothes again. She landed on her arse and instinctively opened her eyes, screaming again at the sight of him.

He frowned at her momentarily as if assessing something. He shook his head in response to his own thoughts and raised his eyebrows at her. "I don't understand why you're the one screaming. I was the one who was interrupted in the shower by this lunatic looking woman. Been rolling in the mud and in the chimneys Rose? It certainly looks like it."

Brief hyperventilation time over, Rose flared her nostrils and looked up at his face trying not to let her gaze wander down and angrily breathed, "okay, what the bloody hell are you doing here Malfoy?"

Scorpius casually leaned against the wall and inspected his fingernails. "I think the question is what the hell are _you_ doing here Rose? I live here and you are actually trespassing into mine and Al's home."

"How the hell do you live here? Al lives alone!" she exclaimed almost hysterically. This was practically her worst nightmare. She started crawling like a crab backwards, keeping her gaze away from Malfoy. She could still feel his sharp gaze on her and she felt a shiver run up her back despite the fact that it was really warm.

"_Au contraire, mademoiselle_. When is the last time you even visited your dear cousin anyways, _Rose_? I have been here for about nine months and this is the first I have seen you."

Rose reached the doorway and as soon as she touched the carpet she lifted herself up and ran down the stairs.

"I'm not finished with you yet," called out Scorpius. After she got down the first few steps she vaguely heard a crack from the second floor but didn't think anything of it.

She turned the corner to get back to the fireplace and ran smack into something solid. Two hands reached out to grab her before she fell and she stared up into the eyes of Scorpius in frustration and loathing.

She tried to wrench herself out of his grasp but he held her steady, his wand in one of his hands. His hands were very warm on her and she fidgeted uncomfortably.

"I told you I wasn't finished with you yet, Rose."

Rose hissed back, "I have nothing to say to you Malfoy."

"Such callousness, the least you could do would be to call me by my given name."

Rose looked away from his face.

"You deserve no such thing," Rose said quietly with venom, staring at the floor before she tried to twist herself away again. He wasn't loosening his grip at all and she had to improvise to get away.

Quickly, she reached out her hand and tugged his towel. It loosened noticeably and Scorpius looked at her in surprise. He promptly let go of her before his towel fell and she grabbed the wand from his hand and threw it into the kitchen to clatter noisily on the floor. Scorpius looked at her in vexation as she ran behind the couch, keeping it between her and him.

_Honey, the least you could do would be to give this man a chance to talk_, whispered Marta in her head. _It has been four years since you last saw him._

_Never, _Rose thought back, _I wish I could erase him from my memory._

_Give him a good thumping love,_ Greg stated.

Rose was wrenched out of her head by Scorpius talking as he redid his towel around his waist.

"Without wands I guess then. I always knew you had a thing for me, Rose, but why don't we take this a little slower. How about I pick you up next Saturday at seven?"

Rose gawped at him. "You. . . you're kidding right?"

He stared at her, his face betraying nothing, and raised his eyebrows. "Do you think I am kidding?"

She stared hard at him and carefully replied, "regardless if you are kidding or not, I wouldn't ever go out with you, never ever."

He shook his head and said slyly, "I seem to recall that your answer would have been very different a few years ago. However, my answer has always been the same: only in your _dreams_ would I ever go out with you."

Rose glared at him and felt her throat tighten. "You're despicable Malfoy. You don't think of anyone but yourself."

"And you are still the same girl you were at Hogwarts, Weasley. I'm happy to know that some things stay the same over time."

Rose lashed out. "You have _NO_ right to say that. You _don't_ know me anymore, _not_ that you ever did."

Scorpius crossed his arms on his chest. "I would think I know you better than you know yourself actually. People like me just don't associate ourselves with people like you. We have standards and you are nowhere close to them."

"Oh, think you're better than me Malfoy? What a surprise, good to know that apparently you haven't changed since Hogwarts either."

Memories began to creep back into her head, stuff that she thought she had blocked out as soon as she graduated from Hogwarts. It was only taking one meeting with him to bring things trickling back.

Rose stared around her quickly, needing to get out of the godforsaken flat. She picked up a pillow and threw it at him.

"Where the bloody hell is Al?" she demanded.

Scorpius easily dodged the pillow and smiled at her condescendingly. "_Awwh_, is the brainless Ravenclaw scared of the big bad Gryffindor? Are you going to hide behind Al like you always do?"

She threw another pillow that he easily dodged, letting it hit against the fireplace. "I don't hide behind anybody Malfoy."

"Oh really? You've been hiding since you finished school. Too scared to show your face to the wizarding world are you?"

Rose frowned at him. "Listening to rumours again and believing them? Shame, you had so much potential but you are so. . . _easily_ corrupted."

Scorpius finally lost his cool face and pink appeared on his cheeks. He picked one of the pillows off the ground and whipped it back at her, keeping one hand on his towel for safety's sake. Rose ducked and the pillow hit the picture behind her, knocking it off the wall with a loud bang.

"I see your aim hasn't improved since seventh year, how unfortunate," Rose said as she peeked back up over the couch to look at Scorpius, whose face was becoming more and more irate. She felt pleased that she had had two small victories over him; he was usually very hard to dismantle.

He growled back, not letting her remain momentarily content. "At least _I_ was on the Quidditch team. _I _didn't get cut."

Her mood instantly dropped. With no more pillows to through, Rose looked around for something else. The first thing she saw was a book on the table beside the couch. After debating it internally for a moment she gently picked it up and turned to Scorpius, keeping the book below his eye level behind the couch.

She paused for a moment, looking him straight in the eyes. She said softly, "at least I didn't fail my team in the last game of the year and get accused of deliberately tanking the game."

That was a low blow and she knew it. She hoped he would just give up and go back to the bathroom or his room and let her leave in peace. His eyes seemed dead as she stared at them still and she almost wished she could take back her words.

But then he replied to her, still staring directly into her eyes. He quietly said back, "at least I didn't fail at everything I had ever done and humiliate myself in front of the whole school."

The two stared at each other; Rose felt a lump appear in her throat and tried to swallow it away. Neither one was moving nor making any discernible noise. The silence was so sharp and full of tension that it could have cut through diamonds. His statement cut her deep. She felt her heart curl up inside of her, hiding somewhere beyond reach from him again.

That book that was in her hand wasn't any longer. She didn't even realize how hard she threw it until it rebounded off Scorpius's forehead, leaving a red mark and an indent in it. She struggled to hold her emotions steady but she half felt like crying and half felt like punching his head off.

"_Asshole,_" she exclaimed frantically, struggling to maintain the anger and not let the tears come.

Scorpius ignored her comment for the moment, and picked the book up. He felt his head with the other hand, assessing if there was blood or not. He then turned to her, "I would start to watch what you say Weasley."

"I'm not afraid of you, never was," she spat.

He gave a disbelieving laugh, his eyebrows raised high. "Oh, no? Well maybe you should be."

He ran around the coffee table and was almost at where she was standing before she gave a small scream and started running too. As she reached the fireplace she tried to grab the Floo powder on the side but had to instantly move away or get caught. The Floo powder went crashing to the floor. Around and around they went, both running and both chasing.

Rose flung anything she could get her hands on in his path, trying to slow him down, but he just jumped over everything. She wasn't sure what would happen if he caught her, but she knew it wouldn't be good.

That was how they remained when Albus got home a few minutes later. Instantly and incredulously he gauged the situation before yelling out, "_STOP_!"

Scorpius didn't stop running and neither did Rose.

Albus stood staring for a moment before holding up his wand and calling out, "_Immobulus_." Instantly their legs were frozen, and they weren't able to run anymore.

"What is going on here?" exclaimed Albus. "The couch and tables are upturned, there are pictures missing off the walls and you guys are running all over! Someone _explain_."

Rose and Scorpius both glared at each other but neither said anything.

Albus shook his head. "Okay well I want to start with Scorpius. Mate, why are you just in a towel?"

He rolled his eyes and pointed an accusing finger at Rose. "_Someone_ interrupted my shower."

Albus looked at Rose for confirmation. "What is he talking about? And you, why are you so dirty? And is that a _bruise_ on your face or just well-defined dirt? I can't even tell."

Scorpius looked sharply at her and said quickly, "a bruise? Where did that come from?"

"Not from you, _idiot_. And I thought it was _you_ in the bathroom, Al. Does he seriously live here?"

Al waved his wand and up-righted the couch. "Yeah he does actually. When Ty moved out I had an extra room and coincidentally Scorpius needed a place to stay. So he moved in."

"Where is the bruise from?" Scorpius asked Rose again.

"Why are you still on that? It doesn't matter where it came from," Rose fired back to him. She looked back at her cousin. "Al, can you let us go now?"

He raised an eyebrow at her and looked at Scorpius. "Do you promise to behave?"

"Yes!" they both said at the same time.

Albus sighed and picked up the picture that was on the ground, intentionally taking his time as he set it back on the wall. He finally turned to Rose and flicked his wand at her.

"Rose. Go sit in that chair." He pointed to the chair closest to her and Rose walked there and dropped herself into it, splaying her arms over the arm rests. Her legs hung loosely to the floor, as if they weren't attached to her body.

He then flicked his wand at Scorpius. "Scorpius, go get changed and if you come back down, go sit in _that_ chair," he said, pointing to the chair on the other side of the room from Rose. With one lingering indiscernible look at Rose, Scorpius moodily headed up the stairs.

Albus continued his rounds around the room, cleaning up bits of dried mud and soot footprints, hanging pictures back up, and picking up different objects that were on the floor.

"How on Earth are you so dirty?" he asked her.

"Well. . . Ha, long story short, it's been the longest day of my life. It's from this morning when I was working outside and then I flooed here from Dom, Molly, and Lucy's flat about ten minutes ago. So soot and mud combined."

"Wow, you flooed? That is an accomplishment," Albus said jokingly.

Rose sighed, "well I really had no choice. I didn't know my three C's of apparition."

They heard footsteps come down the stairs and then Scorpius came into view wearing a grey pullover and jeans. He went to the kitchen and picked up his wand from the floor saying, "three C's? There are no C's of apparition. They are D's."

With Al nodding in agreement, Rose widened her eyes and her mouth dropped. "What an evil cousin Lucy is! And Dom and Molly!"

"How dumb are you to believe them?" Scorpius said scathingly to her.

"Who would be thick enough to remember each and everything from Hogwarts," she shot back.

Albus cleared his throat loudly. "Okay, new rule. No comments if they are rude. Rose, Scorpius lives here and has been my friend since forever, and Scorpius, Rose is family and is always welcome. Got it you two? Make peace between yourselves, you're not sixteen again."

"Since when are you so diplomatic," muttered Rose.

"Since I started my restaurant. You guys are nothing compared to some of the buffoons who work for me; you are an easy case. So figure out some sort of truce between you two."

"Wow Al, I didn't realize you got the restaurant started. Congrats!" she smiled at him.

He smiled. "Thanks, but don't change the subject. Do you both promise to behave?"

Rose and Scorpius both gave a disbelieving look to Albus and he put up his hands and added, "for the moment, _at least_!"

Their gazes swung to each other and Scorpius made a face of disgust. Rose then stuck out her tongue at him.

Albus sighed. "Well we'll just move on for the moment. So why'd you pop by Rose? Not that you're not welcome to of course, it's just you usually send warning."

Rose pursed her lips and scrunched her nose. She slowly turned her head towards Albus and gave him puppy dog eyes.

"Can I get my wand back, _please_."

Albus burst out laughing and Rose frowned at him for it.

"Why in Merlin's name would Al have your wand?" Scorpius questioned somewhat curiously.

Rose didn't turn her gaze away from Al even though he laughingly responded to Scorpius's question. "I have had her wand ever since we graduated from Hogwarts."

"Oh?" Scorpius sounded more confused than curious now.

Albus chuckled again. "Sorry Rose, I'm not laughing at you, just that dumb contract we made with Louis. Do you remember? I still have it somewhere. . ."

Rose groaned and put her hands to her head. "_Bloody hell_. Don't you dare get it. That was so long ago and it was just a joke!"

Albus shook his head and stood up. "Actually I know where it is. I'm getting it - the contract I mean and not your wand, yet. It was no joke; you were dead serious when we wrote it. You two," he said pointing to Scorpius and Rose, "you two just both sit and don't move."

Albus bounded up the stairs twos and left Rose and Scorpius sitting in silence. Rose reluctantly turned her gaze to Scorpius.

He stared accusingly, eyes burning with questions. "Why does Al have your wand?"

"Why do you care? Why are you even down here?" she shot back.

He blankly stared at her and then replied, "I live here. I have every right to be here, same as you."

She was saved from having to reply by the fireplace getting brighter and brighter. Very suddenly Dominique appeared in the fireplace.

"Wotcher," she said cheerfully and then realized that Scorpius and Rose were seated calmly in chairs she exclaimed, "_woah_. Did not expect this, I thought one of you would be dead by now!" She held up her hands in defence. "And please don't kill me Rose!"

She peeked at Rose and when Rose just stared expressionlessly at her. Dominique brushed herself off of soot and sat down on the couch, crossing her legs.

"Yeah, thanks for the memo about Al's new roomate. Appreciate it. . . _really. _Why'd you floo over?" Rose inquired.

"Hmmmm, well, we were kinda worried when you didn't show up after half an hour had passed. So we put all our names in a hat and my name was pulled, 'cause not going to lie we were all chicken to venture over here. SO voila, here I am! What's happening? And tell Blondie to stop scowling at me."

Scorpius's scowl turned deeper. "There are too many Weasleys in here. I'm going to get a drink." And with that he got off his chair and went to the kitchen.

Dominique turned to Rose. "So why are you still hanging around? Don't tell me you don't have your wand yet?"

Rose sighed, "I don't actually."

There was a loud thump from above them and then Albus called from the second floor, "I FOUND IT! WOHAHA!"

Dominique looked at Rose. "_W__hat _is that kid talking about?"

Rose threw her arm over her eyes and groaned. "You really don't want to know."

Dominique looked puzzled and watched as Albus ran down the stairs holding a piece of paper in his hand.

"Okay, okay are you ready for this? Hey Dom! Where'd you come from?" he half-shouted out to the two girls and then stopped himself short. "Wait, where's Scorp?"

"He died," Dominique said back quite seriously.

"He - _what?_ No, seriously, where'd he go?"

"_He_ was just in the kitchen getting some tea. _He_ didn't die at all," Scorpius said and sat back down on his chair putting one foot on his knee and cradling a steaming hot mug.

"Okay anyways Rose I found the contract and listen to this," he cleared his throat. "_'I, Rose Nymphadora Weasley hereby declare my 12 ¾ inch ivy wand with unicorn hair to be hereto forth in the possession of one Albus Severus Potter. I-_"

"_AL_," Rose interrupted, "can we just burn that note and forget I ever wrote anything!"

Dominique flapped her hand at Rose. "No! I want to know what it says. I didn't know you guys made a contract and this sounds promising. _Continue_," she ordered.

Albus cleared his throat again. "Okay, where was I? Oh right, _'I, Rose Nymphadora Weasley, with the dashingly intelligent witness, Louis Gideon Weasley hereby declare that Albus Severus Potter will keep the afore mentioned wand and protect it from harm. The wand shall in no way be relinquished to one Rose Nymphadora Weasley unless in the case of-_'"

Albus paused and squinted, putting the paper closer to his face. "Okay so I can't really read what it says right here because Louis kept scribbling what you wrote out, Rose. But I think it says... Pellinor and Edil-Amarand - well can't even pronounce that! and is that the word Panem? Well, I can't remember what you were trying to get at. But we'll just skip that line. . . and oh I can read the rest now: _'another Voldemort trying to take over Britain, Grindelwald in terror of multiple European countries, or Sauron creating rings of power to take over Middle Earth. This declaration, signed on August 9 2046 at 15:43, is a binding agreement insomuch that Rose Nymphadora Weasley will not ask for her wand back or she shall forever refer to the dashingly intelligent Louis Gideon Weasley and Albus Severus Potter as the greatest people on Earth and clean their homes for four months,_" Albus finished and looked at Rose with his eyebrows raised and a giddy smile. "Still want your wand back?"

Rose had her hands over eyes in embarrassment while Dominique was holding her stomach and trying to stop herself from laughing.

Scorpius just sat silently, betraying no emotion except for raised eyebrows. He was staring intensely at Rose.

Dominique finally burst out, "BAHAHA! Are you kidding? You actually wrote that_ and with_ _my_ _brother_ _as well?_ Merlin, I can't believe you! You sure know how to get yourself into situations!"

"Mhmmmm," hummed Rose.

"So you want your wand back then?" Albus waggled his eyebrows.

Rose sank lower in her chair and grumbled through her teeth, "yes. I need it know. Plans have changed."

"Oh - wait a minute. What about the boyfriend? He doesn't know you are a witch?"

Rose's face turned slightly red and then she went pale. She blinked a few times before trying to focus her eyes on Albus. "We aren't together anymore as of today. Can I just have my wand and we can discuss all this later."

Albus's mouth dropped and he silently reached into the cushion behind him and after feeling around for a moment he pulled out her wand. He shrugged his shoulders at Rose. "I couldn't think of any place to hide it. Here you go." He tossed it to Rose and it landed on her lap. "_BUT_, don't think you get out of our contract so easily. I expect you to hold up our end of the deal."

She just nodded and picked up her wand. Smiling she ran her hand softly over it. She quietly said, "I forgot how it feels. . . can't believe I gave it all up after school."

She sighed and everything was quiet for an instant before Dominique spoke. "Bruise balm is ready back at our place if you're ready to go. And we should get going, it looks like you're going to drop dead any second. You're awful white."

Scorpius sat as still as a stone on his chair gazing at Rose. He hadn't moved one inch since he sat down and only after Dominique helped a wobbly Rose up from her chair did he open his mouth.

"Just wait. Let me get this straight." He put down his leg and then leaned forward resting his elbows on his knee, his blonde hair gently falling onto his face. "You write this contract right after we finish Hogwarts and give up your wand; to deny being a witch. You then get some tosser of a boyfriend and keep practically your whole life a secret from him. You then show up here with bruises - _yes I did notice the ones on your wrist as well _- and ask for a wand back after you say you have broken up with tosser boyfriend. Do you know what _that_ sounds like?"

"Don't presume to know my life just from what you've picked up tonight," Rose said feebly. She really wasn't feeling well now; she was a bit dizzy.

"Well am I right?" demanded Scorpius.

"No," scoffed Rose. Dominique gave a feeble cough beside her that sounded vaguely like "liar."

"I hope that isn't what happened. . ." Albus trailed off, looking worriedly at Rose, who was swaying a little bit.

She ran a hand through her hair. She was utterly exhausted now. She had been trying to fix the water pipe in the morning, had a brief fight and break-up with Danny, ran a few kilometres worth, walked way more kilometres worth to her cousins house, took the Floo network to get to another cousins house, got into an intense, emotional fight with Scorpius, ran around the couch multiple times, and had been drilled with questions throughout the day.

"I just. . . It's not. . . I think I'm going to. . ." Her eyes rolled up in her head and she fell down in a faint.

Scorpius jumped up, spilling his tea over the rug and rushed over to her.

"Hold your horses!" exclaimed Dominique with a hand in front of her to stop him. "Let the _Healer_ check."

"Bloody hell!" said Albus who was half off the couch but then just sat down again after Dominique said that. "Of course _you'd_ say that. . . You have such an ego!"

"Damn rights I do Allyboy," Dominique said with a shake of her head. "I have every right to it. Five years of education so far, it's serious stuff."

"Get to it then," snapped Scorpius who was looking at Rose and fidgeting uncomfortably. He muttered to himself, "what a way to get out of questions. Honestly, only _she _would faint."

"I'm sure she is fine," said Dominique with an eye roll but nonetheless leaned down and checked Rose.

She hummed under her breath for a few moments and then tapped her chin. Standing up she held her finger in the air and proclaimed very haughtily, "it is as I suspected! It is all Lucy's fault."

Albus nodded slowly. "How so. . .?"

"Actually just kidding, it's really not. It's why people are supposed to always rest after a healing. Rose's 'high' ran off. She just had some big healing done back at our place before she came here. Symptoms are usually lots of energy before a large crash. But we can just blame it on Lucy, just to annoy her. Rose has had a long day and I'm surprised she lasted this long anyways."

"What healing did she have done?" Scorpius questioned. He was getting to be very frustrated by everyone's lack of a response for his numerous questions. He liked answers and he liked knowing all the little details.

Dominique grinned at him with a raised eyebrow. "Wouldn't you like to know. . . " She pointed over to the spilt tea of his. "Didn't realize you actually cared that much."

"I don't," he said defensively.

"Sure seems like it. . ." she replied.

Albus interrupted. "Should Rose just stay here for the night then? Or are you going to take her back to your place?"

"Well Lucy and Molly were putting a mattress in the office for her, so I'll take her back. Can I apparate in your apartment to ours?"

Albus shook her head and Dominique leaned down over Rose, tapping her chin again. "Do you have a sheet or something I can borrow to wrap her in? I don't want to get everything dirty back home."

"_She's not a dead body!_" exclaimed Albus.

Dominique scoffed, "I know. She's just so dirty right now. Whatever though." She snapped her fingers at Scorpius. "Yo, Blondie, pick her up and follow me."

"You have blonde hair too dummy. And why Scorpius and not me? She's _my_ cousin."

"Lucy's nickname for him, not mine. And Al, your muscles are practically non-existent in comparison, _puh-leeze_."

Albus looked helplessly at Scorpius and shrugged his shoulders. So Scorpius slowly walked to Rose and picked her up, slinging her over his shoulder in a fireman's hold. Her arms were flopping loosely down his back, and her hair was splayed everywhere.

Dominique snorted. "I would have thought of a better way to hold her. She isn't a piece of meat."

Albus rolled his eyes. "Like she isn't a dead body? Well, great, now that we've decided Rose is a real human being hurry up and get going!"

Dominique grabbed Rose's leg and pulled, leading them both out the room. They walked outside to the alley where Scorpius gently lowered Rose to the ground.

"Alright, we're off," stated Dominique as she grabbed Rose's hand, about to apparate away.

"_Wait!_ What is going on here with Rose? Why did she give up her wand?" Scorpius asked helplessly.

Dominique looked at him with some pity in her eyes. She hesisated before saying, "it's not exactly my place to say. Perhaps one day Rose will tell you for herself. From what I know, and it isn't that much, is that there were actually many different reasons for her giving up her wand."

She looked down at Rose and smiled, brushing some of the curly hair away from her dirty face. She then looked back up at Scorpius seriously. "One of them was you."

She then apparated them both away, leaving a surprised Scorpius in the alley. He didn't return up to his apartment right away. He sat down, leaning against the wall and tried to remember everything he could about Rose Weasley.

X-X-X-X-X


	4. A stolen purse and a red bandana

August 15, 2026

* * *

><p>The music was pumping loudly, reverberating incessantly through the air. There were lights flashing from the ceiling, people dancing and talking, and people drinking alcohol at the bar in London.<p>

Rose sat at the counter, watching the bartender make drink after drink and pour numerous shots out for the paying customers. She was lightly passing her own drink back and forth between her fingers as she laid her head on her other hand. Her cousins were all somewhere else in the joint: Molly, Lorcan, and Dominique were on the dance floor, Lucy had left twenty minutes ago to find the loo, and Albus had gone off to stalk some pretty bird.

They had all come to the bar together for their Saturday night because Albus promised to pay the bill. It was in part because Rose had broken up with her boyfriend and was back in the wizarding world, and in part celebration for his restaurants success. However, perhaps the biggest part was that nobody else could afford to go out and the school year was close to starting again.

Yes, Rose was sitting alone at the bar and looking ridiculous in the getup she was wearing. As she only had brought her backpack from her ex's house she was very much lacking in useable clothes, especially nicer clothes for going out. As a result, she had to borrow from Molly and Lucy, as they were the closest in body size to her. Unluckily enough their styles were way different than hers. Molly was fond of her pinks, summer dresses, and skirts. As Rose was a redhead and way more of a tomboy than Molly, she refused to wear any of them. That left her with Lucy's hippie, vintage, and just layer on everything and somehow make it good look.

Right now her toes were pinched because she hadn't been allowed to wear her hiking sandals. Her feet were larger than everyones' yet she was still stuck with a pair of flats that didn't fit right. And even though Lucy insisted she looked adorable in the themed leggings, she felt like she was back in kindergarten. Coupled with the fact that she was already well on her way to getting drunk, she decided to just sit and moodily plot how to infiltrate her old house so she could wear what she was comfortable in.

It had been a week since she left and was now temporarily moved into the small office at Dom, Molly, and Lucy's. Though miniature office or walk-in-closet would be a more fitting name as the room was extremely small. Rose didn't fit on her mattress as she was way too tall and there was only one foot from where her feet ended to where the wall started.

Besides the first two days where she barely got out of bed because her muscles were in pain, her whole week had been rather boring. She had spent most of her week rereading some old school books and practising spells. Most of the spells were doing things they weren't supposed to and it was rather frustrating.

As spellwork wasn't going very well, she had to move onto the next major thing: getting her personal belongings. She didn't think it would be that hard to find everything at her old house, unless Danny had thrown everything of hers out - which she didn't think was likely. She had everything in two rooms in the house and not counting windows there was two ways in and out: the front door and the back door.

The thing she was worried about was that Danny would be in the house while she was getting her stuff. He had barely left the house in the past year so the chances were very likely. She didn't want another encounter with him.

_A sleep potion? Or a simple stupefy?_ Greg suggested.

_Hum, I was thinking of that. . ._ Rose admitted.

_To a muggle? _Marta said scandalized, _Rose you can't do that!_

_Well, gesundheit, I wasn't fully decided yet_, she replied.

_Nobody sneezed. And the fact that you even thought of it means that you should lay off the drinks, you need to be lucid in your thinking when you are dealing with him_, Marta said.

_Oooh, don't be such a spoil-sport. It's not like she is going there right now. She is sitting at the bar, alone and bored. She might as well indulge, it's not like she doesn't have half her family with her somewhere in the bar_, Greg reasoned.

_Pshaa, not even close to half_, Rose said, _but I agree with your point of view, I'm not nearly drunk enough._

And she ordered another drink.

Five minutes later, her head was buzzing even more. _Where the fuck is Lucy_, she thought. She felt like such a loner sitting in the corner. She had the stool next to her saved and had to glare at six different people in order to deter them from sitting down beside her.

She half stood up on the stool, looking over the heads of all the people ordering at the bar. She couldn't see any tall brunette, not even the other half of that tall brunette in Molly form.

However, she did see somebody that caused her to instantly drop down and duck under the bar.

_What the bloody hell is that thing doing here!_ she thought. O_kay keep calm Rose. One breaths, Two breaths, Three breaths, FLOOR. Ha ha wow I crack myself up sometimes. . ._

She saw a pair of legs appear before her.

"Rose, pray tell me _why_ you are under the bar?"

Rose breathed a sigh of relief. "Lucy! I'm hiding! _Shhh. . . _! Why is _it_ here?"

Lucy snorted, "I'm sorry_. . . it_?" She sat down beside Rose and pulled her up so she was sitting again.

Rose scowled and pointed her finger to where he was standing and ducked her head down a little again. "See, the blonde cheerio there!"

Lucy shrugged her shoulders with a small smile at Rose and her actions. "Oh, Scorpius. Yeah, no clue. We did invite him out with us you know." She pinched Rose's mouth shut with her fingers just as it was opening and said, "well he lives with Al! We can't just not invite him. Besides you shouldn't run every time you see him. But point was he said he had to work and so couldn't come."

She released Rose's mouth so she could talk. "Why the bloody fuck would he be here then!"

Lucy sighed. "Rose I have no clue. He is some sort of Auror, so maybe he is tracking someone in this shindig? Or meeting people? Or maybe his plans changed? Make a guess!"

"Awwh, why does he have to be here the one night we go out. . . ?"

"I honestly don't know. . . but I doubt he recognizes you anyways. You look like an actual human being tonight instead of a person who had been living under the ground for a decade. You are wearing clothes that fit you. . . and your beautiful long curly hair isn't-"

"GAH! He's looking over here right now!" Rose exclaimed at Lucy, trying to hide her head.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Oh get over it. Your red hair sticks out like crazy, it would be impossible not to notice you! Besides, if he is working he won't talk to us and we are technically not allowed to talk to him, for obvious reasons."

Rose ran one hand over her curls self-consciously. "It's so red. I have no chance," she croaked. She sat up took another swig of her drink. "What took you so long anyways Lucyluce?"

Lucy made a face. "Oh gosh. Your drunken self would remember to ask. . . Well the line for the loo was very long on the women's side. And after a billion years with me not moving forward, I gave up waiting and just went to the men's side. So if you have to go, don't even bother waiting in line.

"Eww. Lucy that is sshhhhittt. . . er. . . nasty! Was there any fellas in there?"

"Well yeah, but they were too sloshed to even notice me. I think I was more grossed out than they would have been to have me in there, had they noticed me. My view on humanity has lowered again; people can really be disgusting creatures." She shuddered at some memory.

Rose nodded and stared at her now empty drink. The music seemed unnaturally loud and she really had to concentrate to hear Lucy. Her eyes moved from her glass up to where Scorpius was standing. She seemed hyperaware of his presence and she felt that if he moved to stand elsewhere she would know instinctively. She had moved on from him in Seventh Year, she shouldn't be staring or curious about him any longer. It was the past and it was over. Rose tore her eyes away from him before he saw her gawking and looked at Lucy instead.

Lucy was staring at her own half-full glass in silence, her shoulder-length brown hair falling into her face.

"Do you think I overreacted? With the whole Danny thing? Like breaking up with him, and leaving?" asked Rose quietly. It had been another thought that was plaguing her all week. She was sure she did the right thing. The situation was so complicated and. . . she just needed confirmation; just needed a second opinion for her peace of mind.

Lucy looked over sharply. "Were you happy with him?"

"I _was._"

"Not when you went traveling with him before moving to London. That was before the accident, right? Were you happy with him when you moved to his house together? And the weeks or months before you left, were you happy?"

Rose swung her head back and forth, calculating a response. "Well, no. I wasn't. . . but I just feel like what I did was too drastic and emotional. Especially because his accident. . . I feel extremely guilty. Maybe if we tried talking instead or something."

"What would talking have done? If you're in an unhealthy relationship, you need to jump ship before you go down with it. Did you ever talk to him about what he was doing?"

"We tried to talk. . . He always said that he would do something and change, or the next day he would. But then never did and avoided looking at me as he plunked down in front of. . . We weren't very open with each other."

"Okay. . . so you _did_ try the talking. You were unhappy and you stayed with him for quite some time. Relationships change, people change. Just because you're with someone now doesn't mean that's how it must be for the rest of your life. Perhaps you lost control a bit, but maybe that's what you needed to do to get out. Why are you questioning your decision now?"

"Well, I had a home. . . and a job. . . and a few friends at that job. . . and money. . . and clothes. . . Right now I'm pretty much homeless." She ticked off her fingers as she named each one and then held up her hand. "My whole life was there. That's five really important things I don't have now. And Danny was in a bad place, he's still depressed and it's just -" Rose sighed. "Should I try to mend things with him? It doesn't seem fair."

"Okay, first of all, you just need to get your feet placed under you again. Give it time, you will get all those things back eventually. And second of all, we don't mind that you're staying with us! As we've already told you multiple times, you bring this fun energy with you and there is never a dull moment, _really_. When school starts up again in the fall, it will be great to have you around to help us remain positive."

"But I have no money for rent or food. . . !"

"You will eventually. But we three have managed for almost five years now, it's not like we're struggling or anything. You're just figuring out what to do and it's not like we mind at all. You are at. . . a crossroads in your life again, and need to just take it slow and move on."

Rose nodded her head. "Okay, well thanks Luce."

"Well, no problem. We'll talk more later too because this isn't the best place for this kind of conversation! And we've both had a few drinks." She looked at the drink glasses that were strewn about Rose. "You way more than me especially. But it's on Albus tonight and this is the only night that he will _ever_ buy for us at a bar, so go do a shot!"

Rose ordered two shots, one for her and Lucy, even though Lucy said she wasn't drinking anymore for someone needed to remain sober. So Rose happily took Lucy's.

After that, things started getting random and more crazy. Rose could only remember half the things that went on for the next few hours.

She could recall that a drunken half-French and half-English speaking Dominique came to find them. She made Rose take another shot with her before she dragged the reluctant Rose and Lucy to the dance floor. . .

. . . She had a run-in with Scorpius not too long after, on the small set of stairs separating the dance floor from the tables as she had a hiccupping attack. She couldn't glare or yell at him because she couldn't breathe. He smirked at her as Molly slapped her back, making her choke even more and trip over the top step. She glowed red in embarrasment as she picked herself up off the floor and got away.

She vaguely remembered when some girl spilt her drink all over the back of Dominique's dress. Dominique started yelling profanities in French and just about punched the girl. They had to pull her back so she wouldn't start a fight. . .

. . . A random man had come up to her sometime in the night and tried to snog her, but then passed out on her instead. Albus helped Rose drag the man to the table where his friends were so he wouldn't get trampled on the dance floor.

Albus thought he lost the money he brought after telling the bartender to made a drink for everyone again. Everyone had a minor heart attack as no one else could pay the growing bill. . .

. . . Molly and Lorcan were snogging on the dance floor, at the table, in line at the bar, and on the way to the toilets. Lucy got mad at seeing them attached everywhere and yelled at them to knock it off. They didn't want to knock it off so they happily headed back to the flat early.

Rose and Lucy finally made it back to their stools a few hours later which were surprisingly empty still and sat down, trying to catch a breath.

"I think I've gone deaf!" Rose laughed, leaning into Lucy's ear so she could hear her over the thumping music.

"What?" Lucy asked, actually oblivious to what Rose just said.

"HA HA, I just made a funny!" she squealed.

Dominique appeared behind them again after they tried to lose her in the crowd. She tapped the shoulders of the two.

"Je tourne my back pour _un moment_ and you deux are sitting again? The only -" She stabbed Rose in the eye with her finger when she was aiming for her nose. "- the only temps que vous pouvez sit ici is if yooouuu are getting les drinks!"

Lucy looked at her dumbly. "Stick to one language please Boomerang. I don't drink enough to understand your nonsense."

"She said 'drinks time!'" Rose exclaimed, nodding her head frantically while rubbing her eye.

"Well yeah, I got the general sense of it. Goodness, you would find us that quickly. Take it easy with the drinks. . . " Lucy said, trying to be somewhat responsible.

Dominique ignored her and pulled Rose off her seat, dragging her over to the bartender to get another drink. "Okay, Sailor, Allons-y to the bartenda!"

"Oui, oui capitaine Boomerang!"

Dominique set her purse on the counter and started digging through it. A pen fell from her bag and she leaned to the floor to get it.

"Order something pour moi. I'm looking for. . . _what the?_"

Her purse was no longer on the counter.

Dominique looked at Rose in surprise. "Où did my purse va?"

"I don't have it," Rose said.

Dominique frowned at the counter at the spot where her purse just was. "Eez it on la terre?" She asked as she looked on the ground for it.

Rose shook her head and then looked past Dominique.

"I think that fella has it – see the tall one there with the hat. He's running, running, running, oops, he tripped haha, running. . ."

"Quoi? Is he trying to faire. . . ? MERDE, _Rose_! Ce gars-là just stole my purse!"

"Oh! Don't worry Dominininiqe! I'll get it for you," Rose stuttered and then took off after him before Dominique could reply.

She dodged left and right around the people in the bar, tripping over the small set of stairs again._ I'm following the stealer, the stealer, the stealer, I'm following the stealer wherever he may go, _she sang in her head to the tune of "following the leader." _Babum, babum, oooh, that's a person, a person, a person, that was a person who got in my way. Babum, babum. . ._

She reached the door still singing in her head and miraculously dodging more people than she was hitting.

_THINK BEFORE YOU ACT_, boomed her instincts in her head. But Rose didn't even hear that advice as she continued to run in pursuit of the thief.

_Rose. . . don't go by yourself!_ Marta exclaimed. While Greg kept chanting, _self-preservation, self-preservation. . ._

None of her voices, her other 'halfs,' were connecting with her. There was a barrier of alcohol between Rose's reasoning and her actions. Rose made it to the door and pushed the last straggler out of the way as she reached the outdoors. The warm summer air hit her and inspired her to keep running after the man. She was doing it for Dominique; she had to get the purse back. It didn't belong to that man.

Surprisingly there were barely any people directly outside the bar. She kicked off her shoes as they were pinching her toes incorrigibly and just concentrated on running. The time was now nearing two in the morning and the streets that Rose was running past were very empty.

She had a lot of energy and so it was no problem to catch up to the man. She was even running somewhat straight. He had had a huge head start but she could hear his breathing becoming louder and louder the closer she got. They passed buildings and roads and lampposts. The alcohol seemed to be fueling her energy somehow and before she knew it she was right behind him.

She leaped and knocked him on the ground, skinning her knees on the cobblestone.

"AH HA! Gotchoo you bloody thief!" she exclaimed, sitting stupidly on his back, thinking there was something she had to do now; she forgot why she had run after him. She felt him move under her.

"Wooaah, I just caught you, you aren't supposed to do shit now!"

She tried to hold his shoulders down with her hands but he quickly flipped himself so he was on his back instead of his stomach. He tried rolling to the side to escape her but she blocked him, not letting herself be pushed or pulled off. The man kneed her in the back, but he wasn't able to get any force behind it and Rose barely registered his attempts.

He then gave up for the moment and lay still. Rose stared wide-eyed into his expressionless face. He had green eyes and light brown hair with a round face and a large nose. It wasn't very handsome, but it was a deadly face. There was a faint scar that ran across his cheek. Drunken Rose got her first shiver of fear. There was something ruthless about this man.

She suddenly felt something sharp touch her stomach. She looked down and her eyes widened. A knife was somehow in his hand. Rose didn't know where he pulled the knife from or how it escaped her notice, but it was there now.

He stared at her and said, "get off me stupid girl."

Rose almost complied, but she saw the purse and remembered that it wasn't the man's. Some stubborn streak also kept her in place.

"Hold up buster," she stated. "You're not seriously about to fucking stab me?"

The man looked surprised she was asking a question and not running and screaming to get away. "Why do you think?" He repeated, "get _off _me."

"Oh wait! I have an idea! One second, one second. . . " Rose yelled. She pulled up her shirt a little and grabbed her wand that was duct-taped to her stomach. She pointed it at his chest.

"Wohaha! Didn't see this coming, did you?" she said proudly but the man just looked confused.

"You're pointing. . . _a stick. . ._ at me?" he said, enunciating each syllable and letter of his words very precisely.

_Don't do it, don'tdoit, don'tdoit_, Marta repeated to Rose turbo-speed, but again the words weren't connecting to Rose.

Rose gasped. "Oh fuck! Dammit all! You're not. . . ?" She lifted her wand and looked at it worriedly. ". . . A stick?" she gave a fake laugh. "Where did this come from? I thought I had. . . my, uh, _knife_ strapped there."

She tossed her wand away from her and looked back at the knife that was pointed at her stomach.

"So, uhh, I don't have my. . ._ stick _anymore. . . you're not _actually_ going to gut me?"

"Move and I won't," the man growled.

"Okay. But I just don't understand why! 'Cause I am perfectly justified in trying to get my cousin's purse back. You see that thing in your hand? Yeah that's not yours. I am on a mission for it!"

"I don't give a shit!" the man spat back at her. He pushed the knife a little harder into her stomach.

"Ouch! Woah buddy. I thought we were trying to have a civilized conversation here. . . _don't_. . . ouch _mother FUCKER. _Okay, that is an asshole move, this is not my shirt," she spluttered as she saw the first drops of red appear through her shirt.

"If you don't move in five seconds, this knife is going straight through you," he threatened.

"I don't believe you," Rose said calmly, crossing her arms on her chest.

"Five-"

"Nahh I don't think you will."

"Four-"

"Its not that easy to shove a knife through someone-"

"Three-"

"-Purse please, purse please, purse please, purse please-"

"Two-"

A man walked from the alley and interrupted before Rose could say something back. "Well well well, don't we have ourselves. . . a _situation_ here." He wore a red bandana that covered most of his face, except for his dark eyes.

X-X-X-X-X

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: If you can't understand what the hell is coming out of Dominique's mouth, don't worry too much. I didn't make it vitally important. As long as you got the general gist of it, it's all you need. :)**_


	5. A dagger and missing memories

August 16, 2026

* * *

><p><em>Nine minutes, thirty three seconds earlier. In the bar. . .<em>

* * *

><p>Rose took off after the man. She quickly dodged left and right through the people until Dominique couldn't see her anymore.<p>

Dominique grinned; Rose would get her purse back, she was great like that.

She walked over to Lucy, who was leaning against the wall while sitting on the stool. She was staring at a group of people in front of her with her head lightly nodding to the music. Dominique sat down beside her and beamed at her.

"Qui you checkin' out?" Dom asked, looking at the same group of people that Lucy was. There were three boys and two girls who looked like they were arguing.

Lucy scoffed. "I was just staring forward and they are in my line of sight. You know I would never bring home a guy from a bar, it's _not_ the place I'd want to meet someone. . . "

Dominique shrugged her shoulders. "Whatevs, Lucykins the cynic! I think que le man with le beard was the one who were lookin' at."

Lucy raised her eyebrows and a light pink appeared on her cheeks. Dominique was never usually that observant when drunk and the fact that she noticed exactly who she had been looking at was slightly disturbing. She had, in fact, been staring at the man Dominique pointed out, but instead of letting Dominique know she had been right she quickly changed the subject.

"So, you were quick."

"Quoi? What was quick?"

"Ummm, the shot you alchies were going to do?"

"Oh right! We forgot to faire the shot. When Rose gets back, bien sûr we will."

"Oh, okay. . . Where did Rose go? - the loo? I hope she remembers my advice."

"Uhh, nope," Dominique said distractedly and put her elbows on the bar, resting her head on her hands. "This is ennuyeux to just sit here. Pourquoi do you le fais so much."

"I don't understand you, Boomerang," Lucy retorted. She hated how Dominique mixed up her languages when she drank alcohol. It happened everytime they went out and every time she could barely understand what came out of her mouth.

"Oh." Dominique looked dumbly at Lucy. "What was I saying again?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "That's why I asked you dummy! Whatever though, not important. We should head back home pretty quick. It's getting late."

"Yeah, je suis fatiguée and my head it spinning," Dominque murmered. "We gotta wait pour Rose to get back though."

"Let's just go get her, since she isn't here yet. It's not that far of a walk to our flat, she can just go to the loo at home."

"She didn't go to zee toilettes!" Dominique exclaimed.

"Hmm? I thought you just – well, okay, is she with Al then?"

Dominique tapped her fingers on the bar for a few moments before responding. "Noppers, a man stole mon purse. She went to get it."

The words that Dominique said didn't immediately register with Lucy. A few seconds later though she crinked her neck, turning it fast to look at Dominique. She stared dumbfounded at her before she shot out of her chair. "_WHAT_?" she choked out. The arguing group of people looked her way and stared. Even the busy bartender noticed her outburst.

Dominique smiled, not noticing anybody else. "Don't worry, elle va get it back."

Lucy's mouth dropped. _She's not serious, she's drunk. . . she doesn't know what she is saying_, Lucy thought. However, the more seconds that passed the more she realized that something probably wasn't right.

"I don't care about the purse Dom!" She grabbed Dominique's shoulders and looked at her in the face. "Okay I need you to speak in English. Not French. And not a mixture. And explain exactly what happened."

"Okay. Okay. . . Okay. Uhh well I don't know. I was looking for my lip-gloss parce que.. errr.. _I mean_ because, I don't know, I just needed it and we were about to get our shot at the bar. Then it disappeared. _Poof_. . . And why are you asking me these, my head hurts to think."

"Just focus," Lucy said dead seriously. "I need to know what happened. Where is Rose?"

"Well. . . she saw the man running and so she said she would get the purse back. And out she went out the door là." Dominique pointed to the entrance.

"Oh bloody hell," Lucy said her voice quavering a little. She took three big steps towards the door and then turned around back to Dom. "Please tell me your joking Dom. . . that Rose really didn't go running after someone. . . that she is just with Al or at the toilets right now. . . _Please. . . _"

"Why are you worrying? It's not a bad thing, _silly Lucy_. Rose will catch that man."

Lucy stared at Dominique. "Do I. . . I don't. . . _What do I do_?" she burst out.

"Rose will be back," Dom said, trying to be supportive.

"If you weren't so drunk then you would be flipping out to!" Lucy half yelled. "She always gets into horrible situations and does stupid things like this! She's probably dead in some alley somewhere by now."

Dominique looked at Lucy in fright. "You - you don't think that, do you?"

Lucy put her hands to her head in frustration. "No. . ._ I don't know_. I'm going to get Al. We'll go out to find her or something. Stay here."

Lucy left Dominique sitting on the stoor and started looking for Albus, walking quickly throughout the bar. She was taller than a lot of the people there so she just scanned the crowd for messy black hair. There were so many people around her that she had trouble getting through them. Her heart jumped each time she saw black hair, but none of them were Albus. She even became desperate enough to look for his sidekick, Scorpius, but he too was nowhere to be found.

She half-wished she didn't tell Molly and Lorcan to get lost because she felt utterly alone and had no idea where to turn. Rose had left the bar and now she wasn't sure where anyone else was either. The only person she knew was drunk and sitting on a stool waiting for her. Yet when she went back to grab Dominique, she was no longer there. Lucy stared stupidly at the couple who had taken their seats for a few moments before turning around.

"Eff Dom. . . !" she growled. _Don't cry Lucy, don't cry_, she repeated to herself in her head. Someone jostled her from behind and she half stumbled into another person.

"Where the bloody hell is everyone!" she muttered and started frantically searching through the crowd again, being sure to check each face carefully. She had to find someone, she just needed to. She was pushing the party-hoppers away from her with more force than before. She tripped over some beer bottles that were on the floor when she wasn't looking down and someone grabbed her arm and helped her up. She managed to mutter a "thanks," but her mind was too busy to even look at the person.

She just got to the door when she finally noticed what she had missed before: Scorpius half hidden by shadows in the corner. She felt so relieved she didn't even care that it was him she found first. At least it was someone she knew. Lucy ignored the look he was sending her as she got closer. It was clearly: "_Go away. Right now_."

"Blondie, where's Albus?" she fired out quickly.

Not moving his body at all, his eyes briefly shot in her direction. "You're not supposed to be talking to me!" he hissed at her, his mouth barely moving.

"Just answer the bloody question! Where's Al?" she said louder, clenching and unclenching her fists repeatedly.

His eyes flicked to her fists and he noticed how she kept shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Don't use names then, if you _must_ talk to me. And I haven't seen him for an hour at least."

Lucy inhaled sharply and shut her eyes, trying to get some rational thoughts together.

"What's wrong?" Scorpius asked her, when it became clear to him that she was freaking out about something more than usual. However, he was still not not concentrated wholly on her.

"Well. . . _it's Rose_. And I don't know what to do."

Scorpius's eyes finally snapped to hers and held her gaze. His attitude instantly change, something Lucy noted and stored for interpretation later. He took a step towards her and looked at her intently as he mouthed, "what about her? Where is she?"

"_I don't know_! Apparently Dom said that somebody stole her purse and then Rose took off after him to go get it. But I don't know what to do! Should I be worried or go out looking or, or. . . " Lucy trailed off, her voice becoming desperate. Scorpius held up a hand though, to stop her speaking.

"Give me one minute," Scorpius ordered roughly and then he was gone before Lucy could blink. She just stood there staring at the wall and trying not to think of anything while she waited. Six seconds. . . thirty seconds. . . forty five. . .

She felt a hand on her elbow and was pulled along to the exit. "What the - ?" she said and then looked up into Scorpius's face while stumbling backwards. "I _can_ walk by myself Blondie."

He released her arm. "Then keep up."

Lucy was momentarily stunned when he abruptly let her go but then turned around and ran a few steps to catch up. They were paving a path through the crowd of people way easier than Lucy was earlier. Instead of having to push their way through, people just seemed to instinctively move out of the way, whether because of Scorpius or not, Lucy wasn't sure.

They got out of the bar and walked across the street away from prying eyes and ears. Scorpius stopped and he looked at her. "Repeat _exactly_ what Dominique said. It's safe to speak here."

"Okay so, they went up to the bar to go get shots and I guess Dom was looking for something in her purse. Her purse somehow disappeared and they saw a man running away with it. And Rose took off after him to get it. That's as much as I got."

Scorpius swore. "Okay, so is she for sure not in the bar? Did she have her wand on her?"

"Not sure. And yeah I think so, but I doubt she'd think to use it. I wouldn't call her sober and it wouldn't be something she'd think of instinctively after so long in the muggle world."

Scorpius nodded but he still pulled out his wand and a map from a pocket making sure he was in the shadows and keeping it between him and the few muggles standing around the entrance to the bar. Murmuring under his breath a few times and waving his wand on the map he then said to Lucy, "no magic has been used in the area."

Lucy rubbed her hands together nervously. "I told you. I didn't see her when I walked through the bar twice, but I wasn't specifically looking for her. . . Could she be there still?"

"Ah, well, look," Scorpius pointed at something a few metres away. He walked to it and bent down, picking it up. "Rose's shoe," he murmured, holding the black flat and inspecting it.

"Actually my shoe," Lucy corrected. "She _would_ kick them off. Honestly. Look, there's the other one. . ." She pointed to the black flat a little ways farther down the street.

Scorpius picked it up and inspected it. He then handed both shoes to Lucy for her to safekeep.

"She went straight. Follow me."

"Uh, you know because of the shoes?"

"Partly." But he didn't elaborate any more.

They started walking forwards at a quick pace. Every once in a while Scorpius would casually wave his wand in a figure eight motion over the map he was carrying. The moon was a half crescent out and only faintly illuminated the dark streets. It created sharp contrasts of shadows against the walls of the shops that lined the streets and Lucy felt a little spooked.

"Blondie how the hell do you know we are still on the right path? There are a billion other streets that are intersecting here. She might have turned off," Lucy asked through the silence.

Scorpius deigned not to answer, too focused on the ground.

A few minutes later he asked, "why the nickname still?"

Lucy thought for a moment and shrugged. "Because you haven't apologized to Rose yet. I refuse to acknowledge your name when you were such an arsehole to her. Rose deserved better, and you know it. So you will be Blondie until then, or Arsehole. That has a nice ring to it, _Arsehole_."

"Merlin no." Scorpius paused, ". . .I will get around to it, an apology, I mean." He seemed to be fighting with his words; normally he didn't reveal personal things to just anyone. "She just seems to avoid me whenever I see her. . . It's weird trying to be normal with her, we've never done it. . . "

"You have to try though. She is one of the bravest people I know in everyway except with dealing with emotions. She will avoid your presence to the end of time if you do nothing."

"I know that," Scorpius said gruffly. "I do."

They descended into a silence again as they walked forwards through the half lit streets. Lucy kept pace with Scorpius, afraid that if she went slow he would leave her behind on the dead road. They had not seen any people since they left the bar. This time it was Scorpius who broke the silence.

"You're a lot calmer out here than you were inside the bar."

Lucy looked sharply at him. "Well, you're not freaking out. Should I be freaking out? I thought you knew what you were doing!"

Scorpius shook his head. "Forget I asked."

"No, wait! How are we possibly going to find Rose in London if you don't know what you're doing? She could have gone anywhere! She could be dead right now!"

"No, she went this way. Trust me."

"Holy hell Blondie. . . are you _positive_ you know what you are doing?"

Scorpius nodded as he rechecked the map and Lucy nervously looked at his face before making any movements. They continued to walk forwards at the fast pace that Scorpius was dictating until:

"Stop. We're here."

"What do you mean? There is nobody here. And it's dark out, we can't see."

"_Homenum Revelio,_" Scorpius said and then lit his wand when he got no response back. "Look around on the ground, see if you can find anything."

"Like a dead body?" whispered Lucy in horror.

"No," Scorpius shot back sharply. "Like a wand, or any other clues. The wand signal ends here."

"Wait, you _traced_ her wand? You can do that?"

"To a point. And not if the owner blocks their wand with a spell."

"Seriously, elaborate please."

Scorpius hesitated for a moment before speaking. "If you know what the core is and what the wand is made of then wands are traceable, yes. But the spell isn't easy to find and most wizards or witches don't know about it or care because it's not common and they have no reason to fear the law."

"Well. .. good to know, I guess."

Lucy fanned out from Scorpius, searching the ground. A few minutes later Scorpius picked something off the ground. "I found her wand."

There was no reply from Lucy.

"Lucy?" Scorpius turned towards her and saw her kneeling on the ground, very still. He quickly ran to her. She was staring at a dagger in her hand. The tip had some blood on it.

"Where did you find that?" Scorpius demanded.

"On. . . on. . . the ground, right there," she whimpered, her voice quaking.

Scorpius gently took it from her and observed it more closely.

"It's from a muggle manufacturer," he said to her.

Lucy looked at the ground, not saying anything as a few tears fell from her eyes that she angrily wiped away.

Scorpius cast a spell over Rose's wand and observed the faint spells that bubbled from it. "_Aguamenti. . ._" He frowned at what he just said.

"Did she attempt to drown the person? There is no water on the ground or anything, and it being night it wouldn't evaporate. . . "

Lucy shook her head in response, still not letting herself speak.

"This is from earlier this week? Spell practicing and whatnot?" he asked her.

When she nodded Scorpius tried to comfort her. "Don't cry. She's too. . . tough to let some purse thief kill her. Keep looking on the ground for any clues."

When Scorpius found some torn bits of brown material that he recognized to be from Rose's leggings he didn't mention anything to Lucy. After a few more minutes of looking around the area and finding nothing Scorpius told Lucy they should head back.

"But. . . how do you know she isn't farther down these roads or anything?" she questioned tearfully.

"I don't. Her wand trace ends here. But there is a small chance she might be at the bar, and Al is going to be waiting for us outside. If Rose is not there then we'll send out more Aurors to search the area. But we have to be absolutely sure; we also need to check your place in case she had turned up there."

The walk back was more ominous and dark than the walk before. Lucy felt as if time was going slow. The dark of the night was suffocating her as she struggled to hold her emotions steady. Every shadow seemed to jump out at her.

"Her parents are going to kill me," Lucy sniffled, still trying to keep her voice steady and failing. "Same with everyone else."

"Don't talk like she is dead. She isn't," Scorpius snapped. Rose was not dead. She couldn't be.

"How do you know though?" she said frantically as she tried to keep up with his fast pace and failed. "We found a dagger and she didn't have her wand. . . _How_ could she have lived?"

"I just know, _okay_."

"_How_ though?"

He looked at her from over his shoulder. "I just know. Somewhere in me knows. She's okay, wherever she is."

Lucy looked surprised at him, but didn't say anything back.

"Don't tell her," he said quietly.

The bar was coming into view now and Scorpius somehow picked up his pace again, leaving Lucy struggling to keep up. Scorpius stopped a few metres away from the door and looked around. He turned to Lucy and hissed, "_Fuck_, Al isn't here. . . Okay, don't use names in the bar, _of anyone_. I was serious when I said it last time. We're going back in. Look in the toilets for Rose, male and female, and check around the bar. I'll check the back and upstairs. . . "

Albus suddenly appeared in the door with a very unsteady Dominique on his arm. "No we checked the place already. Duncan found me and told me, Scorp, and then I found Dom. Rose isn't inside there at all, a few of us checked thoroughly."

Lucy took a sharp intake of air and Albus walked over and squeezed her shoulder in reassurance.

Scorpius gave Albus and Dominique a quick recap of what they found. Dominique barely took it in whereas Albus's eyes got wide. "_Bloody hell_. What do we do now Scorp?"

"Well I will contact the– " Scorpius stopped talking when they heard the soft patter of feet hitting the cobblestone.

"Hellooo," the voice sang as it approached. "Why are you peoples all outside. Weren't leaving without me?"

Rose walked into the light, carrying Dominique's purse with a cheerful grin on her face.

Nobody made a noise as she walked towards them all.

"See," Dominique proclaimed, wobbling too and fro, "je vous ai dit that elle would finds my purse."

"Shut up Dom, "Al muttered.

Lucy loosened herself from Albus and stepped dangerously towards her. "Rose _fucking_ Weasley. ROSE FUCKING WEASLEY. YOU ARE SUCH AN IMBECILE! YOU- YOU-" words were not enough and Lucy ran to Rose and shook her. "ROSE DO YOU REALIZE THAT YOU GAVE EVERYONE A FUCKING HUMONGOUS SCARE. NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!"

Scorpius was there loosening Lucy's hands from Rose's shoulders as Rose stared astonished at Lucy's yelling. "NO! LET ME GO ARSEHOLE. ROSE YOU BLOODY WANKER" She tried to pull herself away but couldn't get out of Scorpius's hands.

Lucy had just had enough. There was more than one reason why she hated drinking alcohol. She burst into a storm of tears as everyone stared disbelievingly at Lucy crying. Dominique came over and hugged her waist.

Scorpius went up to Rose and she backed up nervously a few steps, tripping over some of the cobblestones. "Rose. . . " he said. "Listen to me. . . no _just_ listen. Don't run off after someone who steals, or anybody like that. Especially by yourself."

"Don't tell me what to do," she snapped, continuing to back up as he walked forward until her back came to the wall and she couldn't move.

Scorpius took a rapid step forward so he was right in front of Rose and she froze up. They stared at each other for a long time before Rose closed her eyes, barely breathing. "Just don't," he breathed softly into her face, "you gave everyone such a scare."

When Scorpius backed up, Rose stared at him half horrified and half blissful. He stepped back and the connection was ultimately broken between them when Dominique half stumbled for her purse.

Dominique snatched it up and hugged it to her. "Mon bébé, mon petit bébé," she crooned to it.

Albus and Lucy glared at her while Scorpius went into the bar to go talk to Duncan, his boss, really quickly. When he came back out, he indicated that they should all start walking home.

Albus looked freaked out by Dominique's actions still as she continued to rock her purse to and fro in her arms. He instead asked Rose as everyone started walking away from the bar, "so. . . what happened?" He looked over at her. They were all bunched together in a group while Dominique trailed them all in a weird zigzag pattern.

"Umm, I don't know. I got Dommy's purse back?"

"No! Like why did you chase after the guy and where did you go?" Albus said.

"Oh. . . Okay. . . _Well,_ I chased the guy 'cause he stole Dommy's purse. And then caught up with him because I was running very fast and knocked him down onto his back." She held her shirt out away from her body as she looked down at it and showed the group. "He then was trying to gut me with his knife and I pulled out my wand. _But he was a Muggle_! So I threw my wand away from me 'cause I _can't_ just perform magic on a muggle!"

She took a sharp intake of air in realization and yelled, "BLOODY FUCK, my wand!" She stopped in the middle of the road. Rose looked at everyone and exclaimed, "_I need to go get it_!" Scorpius grabbed her arm before she went running off and pulled it out of his pocket; handing it to her. Rose looked at in in surprise and took it from his hands, inspecting it for any scratches.

Lucy who had calmed down considerably in the walk, pulled out her wand. "Since we are stopped, I might as well heal your stomach, _idioto_. Who knows where that disgusting knife has been."

Lucy lifted up Rose's shirt, ignoring Rose's meeps of protest. "Hold your shirt there. And don't let it drop down. Al or Blondie, light your wand for me."

Scorpius stepped forwards before Albus could move and the area was lit. Rose was blushing red. "_Stop_ looking at my stomach Malfoy," she blurted out as she glared at him.

He raised an eyebrow. "You have lots of freckles on your stomach."

Her face turned redder. "You know what, I thin -"

Lucy gave a small shriek. "_ROSE_, my leggings too! A rip in my leggings? And my shirt? _Merlin's balls_, you are so hard on clothes!"

Lucy's teeth were clenched as she healed the puncture on Rose's stomach. Rose forgot what she was going to say so just stopped talking, while avoiding Scorpius's stare. Albus was snickering quietly beside him and Dominique just stood hugging her purse.

They started walking again after Lucy gave Rose her flats back. Rose reluctantly put them on and Albus asked Rose to continue her story. "Err, where was I? Hum, yeah so the dude was counting down before he stabbed me, though I know he wouldn't of _actually_ done it, and suddenly out of the alley comes this other man. The guy I was sitting on let go of his knife and raised his hands in surrender, so I got off him. I think the new guy said something about how I did a great job and then he brought me with him as he took the thief in. And guess what! I got half the money, because I caught him!"

Rose reached into her pocket and pulled out some coins. "See! I made money!"

Scorpius immediately reached over and grabbed them from her hand. He cast a spell on them before Rose could snap. The coins shone a bright red light. Scorpius raised his eyebrows at Rose. "There were listening charms on them. But the money is real. It's wizard money. I bet that bloke wasn't a real muggle, even though he said he didn't know what a wand was."

"He thought my wand was a stick!" Rose said angrily. "_He was a muggle_." She grabbed her money back from Scorpius and shoved it into her pocket.

Scorpius took over the questioning. "Where did you go? And what do the men look like?"

"I don't know," she said scathingly.

Scorpius hissed under his breath and indicated at Albus to repeat what he said. Rose just shrugged as Albus repeated it.

"No, I'm serious, I don't know."

"What?"

"I don't remember. . ." Rose said.

"How can you not remember?" demanded Scorpius.

"I don't know. . . I - it's all a blur. . . I just remember the guy I was chasing and then the getting the money, and then walking away. . . "

"Probablement because elle est drunnkkkk," Dominique stammered out. Scorpius still didn't look convinced though. He stared at the back of Rose's head and was about to say something else when Albus interrupted.

"How about we discuss it all tomorrow when we've had some sleep and are not still half drunk," Albus suggested diplomatically.

Everyone nodded in agreement except Scorpius.

"No, this is important to do now while it's all fresh. Rose, do you remember any defining features of the men?"

"_No_! I just can't!" she said. "I _don't_ remember. . .!"

"Give it a rest," Albus murmured to Scorpius. Scorpius looked at Albus, pained, but didn't say anything else.

"You," Lucy stated, "are not allowed to wear my clothes anymore. A hole in my leggings and shirt, and blood too! We are going to your old house and getting your clothes back."

"Its just clothes. . . " Albus stated but Lucy glared at him.

"They aren't _your _clothes."

"Should Rose even go back there?" asked Albus.

"She's the only one who knows where her things are!"

"But you two together doing it. . . with pscyho Danny there, I don't know. . . "

"We'll figure it out later."

They reached the girls' apartment and everyone went up the back stairs. Lucy went straight to her room without talking while Dom walked a few times around the kitchen and living room before she laid down on the couch and fell asleep there, still hugging her purse. Albus grabbed some Floo powder and disappeared to his place.

Scorpius stopped Rose before she could slip past him. "We need to talk soon," he said to her, his arm leaning against the wall in front of her.

Rose stared hard at him. She was swaying slightly on the spot.

"Please, give me a chance to explain and - and apologize. . ." he pleaded softly.

Rose ducked under his arm without replying and walked to her room.

Dejectedly, Scorpius grabbed Floo powder and disappeared.

Rose changed out from Lucy's clothes and left them strewn on the ground. She put on her pj's, brushed her teeth, and crawled under the blankets, her feet sticking out of her small bed. Her vision was spinning and she couldn't clear it from her eyes. She still had alcohol in her veins and she didn't think she would be able to fall asleep at all.

She couldn't get the feeling of Scorpius's strong gaze out of her head and she hated herself for it.

She stared at the ceiling until sleep finally came over her as the sun started to warm the earth with its morning rays.

X-X-X-X-X


	6. A dream and a black letter

Chapter 6

* * *

><p><em>She ran up the stairs quickly. Her heart was hammering like it was trying to escape her body and she tripped on every second step, but she didn't slow down; she had too much adrenaline to keep still. She reached the entrance for the Ravenclaw tower and swore silently to herself, the door wasn't open. She nervously hopped from one foot to the other as she banged on the door and waited for the eagle to say the riddle.<em>

"_Give me food and I will live, give me water and I will die. What am I?"_

_Rose swore again. "A. . . cactus?" she asked hopefully, saying the first thing that popped into her head. She was rubbing her hands together and hopping from foot to foot, anxious that she was going to get delayed by the stupid door. _

_The eagle knocker was silent and Rose groaned. She hated answering riddles and she didn't have to time to think of the correct response. _

"_Please open up, this is important," she begged the eagle and was actually surprised when the door started to open. _

_It was just a Second Year leaving though, not the eagle actually listening to her. Rose caught the door with her hand and ran inside, ignoring everyone who gave her glares for making excessive noise in the common room. She raced up the stairs to the Seventh Year Girls dormitory and opened the door with a bang. She breathed a sigh of relief, her friend was all alone in the room._

"_Whitney, Whitney! Guess what?" she exclaimed, running over to her. Whitney raised an eyebrow at her._

"_I couldn't begin to fathom what on Earth you want me to guess," she drawled lazily as she flicked a page of her textbook over. _

"_Well. . . remember who I wanted to go with to the Hogwarts dance?" Rose said grinning as she hopped onto Whitney's bed and jumped in the air a few times, causing Whitney to put her hands on her bed to stable herself._

_Whitney gave a disbelieving smile and stared at Rose. "No. . ." she said, but when Rose nodded with a maniacal grin on, Whitney stood up and said again, more enthusiastically, "NO!" she squealed and jumped a few times with Rose, their hair flying up around their faces._

"_When? How? What did he say? What did you say!" _

_Rose jumped in the air one more time and then folded her legs under her as she landed with a thump on the bed. "Oh, you sure you don't want to do your homework? You seemed pretty intent on it before," Rose said slyly._

_Whitney sat beside Rose with a thump and rolled her eyes. "Oh give me a break, you come running in here every day like that, how was I to know you actually had something interesting this time?"_

"_Hey!" Rose stated. "I always have interesting things!"_

"_Yeah, sure. . . " Whitney said. "Anyways, spill!" She inched forwards and looked intently at Rose._

_Rose grinned and then stood up and got off the bed. "AH! Alright, so. . . " she said as she paced beside the bed walking to the end and back. _

_"I went to the library to find some book for Herbology and I noticed Scorpius and Al studying. Al called me over for a chat when he noticed me hovering in between aisles and I sat down for a little bit and was talking with them, well mostly Al I guess. Then somehow the spring dance was mentioned and Al said Scorpius didn't have a date yet for it!"_

"_Really -__ you asked him with Al there?" Whitney asked. _

_Rose paused in her steps and then shook her head, walking to the end of the bed and turning around again. "No! Don't jump to conclusions Whit! Al had to leave to go the kitchens because he wanted to eat or cook or something and it was just me and Scorpius awkwardly sitting at the table. Then he said he had to head back to the Gryffindor common room and I asked if I could carry his books there. He said yes!"_

"_Woah, that is so like you to do something like that. So backwards from custom! " Whitney laughed._

"_Well it was a good reason I thought! I just wanted to walk with him! He could have said no, but he didn't. So I took his books and then we walked to the Gryffindor tower."_

"_And he didn't call you Spider, or The Abdominal Weasley, or Freckle Face or pull your hair?" she asked._

"_No he didn't! Well I wouldn't have noticed it if he did I guess, I was so happy and nervous and my heart was beating so fast. Even now, I just can't stop moving! Look at my hands, they're shaking!" Rose said quickly, holding out her hands for Whitney to see._

_Whitney raised her eyebrows and gave a laugh. "Remember to breath, and calm down a bit, we don't want you to have a heart attack because of stress or anything! What happened next?"_

_Rose threw her hands in the air. "We reached the common room! And I took the books to the table he indicated and dropped them off. Then he stood there looking at me and I managed to ask through lots of stuttering if he wanted to go to the dance with me. He said yes! And then I got nervous and ran away! And I ran straight here!" _

"_Damn girl, sounds like you and Scorpius will be dates for the dance then!" Whitney smiled._

_Rose hopped on the spot and flung her hands in the air."I know, I know!"_

"_He was for real though, right? You're meeting him at the dance or something?"_

_Rose shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, I didn't think to ask before I ran. But I imagine I would just meet him there. I mean Ravenclaw tower is way on the other side of the castle from Gryffindor, it would be a far walk to come over here."_

"_Such an inconvenience for him. . . " Whitney said. "This is so exciting though! And funny! We're acting like we're thirteen again, instead of seventeen! Aren't we supposed to be the eptiome of mature as seventh years and not act like teenage girls?"_

"_I have been waiting for this since I was pretty much thirteen! I will act how I please," Rose said and she fell on the bed with her arms spread out. Whitney poked her in the ribs and Rose scrunched up in a ball, laughing._

"_You and Scorpius sitting in a tree. . . K-I-S-S-I-N-G. . . " _

_Rose whacked Whitney on her ribs. "Shush! You're going to jinx it!"_

"_Yeah right," Whitney sighed. "After Hogwarts you guys are going move in together, and then get married and then have giant babies with curly hair, and then grow old together. It's so romantic." _

_Rose's cheeks turned red. "Noooo, I don't think so. . . "_

"_Oh Rose, you've loved the guy forever. It's practically destined. Can I be just Whitney to all your kidlets, and not Aunt Whitney? Aunt Whitney sounds so old fashioned."_

"_Blimey, I'm not having kids right now! That's so far away," Rose stated._

"_It's going to come sooner than we think," Whitney said seriously. "Are you going to wear dress robes instead of wearing your school uniform for the dance? I think you should and it should be brown robes, it'll match your eyes and hair."_

"_Sure," shrugged Rose, spreading herself back out on Whitney's bed to stare at the ceiling._

"_No, wait, it's springtime, maybe you should wear a bright colour. . . like blue, or green?"_

"_Sure, whatever," Rose said again._

"_Hmmm, damn, I'm horrible at this fashion stuff. Maybe I should owl my sister to see what she says. . . " Whitney said, trailing off in thought._

"_You're better than me with the fashion crap and I honestly don't care what I wear, I'm going with Scorpius, that's all that matters," Rose said as if saying it multiple times would further confirm the fact._

_Whitney sighed happily. "I can already tell the end of the year is going to be awesome! We have the dance in two weeks; you're going with Scorpius, and I'm going with Jacob, and then the next big thing is the Quidditch final between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, and then we are officially done Hogwarts in one month! Then you'll be starting that job at the ministry your mom hooked you up with and I'll be working at the Flourish and Blotts in Leeds, and I'll marry Jacob and then you and Scorpius are going to get married after that. . ."_

"_Mhmm," Rose agreed, only half listening to her. "Though not the marrying part Whit, honestly. . . "_

_Whitney chuckled and then her eyes roamed to her textbook that had been kicked to the ground. "Shit!" she exclaimed, frantically picking it up. "I need to get back to studying! Brief interlude of boy gushing over. Don't talk to me anymore."_

_Whitney returned herself to the bed and immediately started reading while Rose laid next to her, still staring at the ceiling. _

_Rose was lost in thought. She couldn't believe the turn of events. Her and Scorpius. HER and Scorpius. It seemed surreal, she had been in love with him for years now, it seemed, though secretly of course. Only Whitney knew and she had been threatened by death if she told. She felt that the cards were finally falling into place. She always seemed to mess up everything, whether it had been school assignments, trying out for Quidditch, or getting getting along with her parents. Maybe for once, something would work out right for her._

_Even though she had asked, she had been somewhat surprised that Scorpius said yes. Usually he dated and hung out with girls who were. . . well, different than her. Certainly not girls standing just over six feet with hair they rarely brushed! No, Scorpius always seemed to pick girls with impeccable taste and fashion, girls that could easily fit right into his arms. Definitely not similar to her, but Rose didn't even care to think of that. She was going with Scorpius. HER!_

_It must be surreal. How could this be real? She put her fingers to her arm to pinch herself to see if she was sleeping and _

she woke up in bed with a start, sitting up ramrod straight. Her heart was beating through her chest and she took a few gasps to control her erratic breathing. Lucy was standing at the doorway, half in the doorway already, with her mouth open.

"Well, so much for waking you up sleepyhead! You're already awake. It's practically noon right now, you sure slept a long time!"

Rose blinked multiple times, stunned into silence by her rapid change of realities.

"Were you having a good dream?" asked Lucy as she came into the room and sat cross legged at the end of the bed. "You sure were smiling in your sleep."

Rose shook her head and then looked at Lucy confused for a moment. "No. It was a nightmare." She was wide awake now and horrified at what she had dreamed. Those memories were supposed to be locked away. She scratched her itchy arm.

"Oh. Alright then," Lucy said. "So, how are you feeling?"

Rose frowned for a moment before she realized what Lucy was talking about. She tried to focus on the present and the thinking made her head hurt: she noticed there was a faint pounding inside her skull. "My head!" she exclaimed.

Lucy smirked. "Yes, all you drunk folk are feeling it this morning. Seems like unlimited, free alcohol is not a good idea! Avoid Dom like the plague today. She will rip your head off and feed it to the pigeons."

Rose laid herself back down on the bed, propping her pillow a bit so she could still look at Lucy. However Lucy pulled the curtain of Rose's window up and rays of sunshine flooded the room, causing Rose to cover her eyes with her arm.

"Lucy, my head!" Rose complained, squinting her eyes as they adjusted to the bright sunlight.

There was a sharp intake of breath before: "ROSE NYMPHADORA! Are you kidding me! I'm bloody having a conversation with you and you can't tell it's me!"

Rose rolled her eyes under her arm. "Blimey, sorry Molly. Fuck. It's early, and I have a hangover. . . and your hair is in a ponytail so I couldn't see the length. . . ! I only thought it was Lucy because she didn't drink last night, and I thought you did!"

Molly growled. "I suppose you're somewhat justified. . . but still! So annoying!" Molly took a breath and then said, "Lucy got called into work this morning so it's lucky she didn't drink. Not that she ever does anyway. And me and Lorcan got back surprisingly early last night, so I had more sleep than pretty much all of you combined."

"You sure you and Lorcan. . . slept?" Rose laughed from under her arm. She could just see Molly's face turn pink through the small gap in her arms she left for her eyes before Molly whacked her on her leg. "Shush! I have some questions to ask you."

"Questions?" Rose asked, confused by the change of subject.

"Yes, questions," Molly said as she reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper. She looked at Rose but then did a double take.

"What did you do to your arm?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"On your arm thats covering your eyes, your wrist is all red."

Rose lifted her arm from her head and looked at her wrist, scratching it lazily with her other hand. "Oh! It's itchy."

"From what?"

"Not from last night. . . it wasn't red when we came home, I specifically remember that. Or itchy for that matter. Merlin," Rose said, continuing to scratch it, "it really is itchy!"

"Well stop scratching it! That's not healthy," said Molly.

Rose took her hand away and looked at her red wrist for a moment while ignoring the urge to keep scratching. She asked, "so that was the question?"

"Oh, questions, plural." Molly unfolded the sheet of paper and looked at it closely. "Okay, first question. What is your name and the place where your mum's water broke when she was prego with you?"

Rose gave Molly a funny look. "Uh. What?"

"Just answer the question," Molly insisted.

"Rose. . . Weasley, and Nymphadora is my middle name. And. . . continue? _Yuck_ okay, well it was at the muggle liquor store in Retford, in the middle of February when the storm hit and that was the only shelter she found. . . So you needed that information _why_?"

"Just to make sure it was really you." Molly sighed at Rose's expression. "It's one of the remarks on the sheet. Don't ask, I think it's stupid too. Okay question two, where did you go, which building, or street or any landmark – anything you remember at all – when you and that man took the thief in?"

Rose rolled her eyes and sighed. "It's _Malfoy_, isn't it."

Molly nodded. Rose frowned slightly and thought back to last night. She ignored the faint pounding in her head as she tried to recall what the hell happened.

"I know it's bad," she started slowly, still thinking, "but I still can't bring it to mind. I seriously remember almost everything that happened before the man appeared. Then it's all a blank. . . well not a blank. . . it's more fuzzy, like just beyond reach. Almost like if I try hard enough I will remember it, but I can't. . . "

"So, I'll take that as a no. Well that's the end of my questioning. Scorpius put like thirty questions down, but if you can't remember anything there really is no point for the rest of them. If anything changes though, let me know."

"Okay. . ." Rose said and then scratched her itchy wrist again.

Molly continued to sit on the bed and looked thoughtfully at Rose. "Lucy told me this morning what happened, in between frantically running everywhere to get ready for work. That's scary - I'm glad you are safe. And I can't believe you didn't wake up with all the racket. Dom even woke up and starting yelling at us."

Rose gave a little laugh. "No I definitely didn't hear a thing!"

"Yeah, oh and we have no hangover potion, that's what else I had to tell you. We really have no stocks of anything it seems. I'm making a list today for potions that Dom needs to make, when she isn't so bitchy and hungover. _Stop_ scratching your wrist."

Rose slowly took her hand away from her very red wrist.

"Why is it so itchy?" she demanded at Molly.

"I dunno Rose. Maybe a bug bite? Or a rash? I don't study regular maladies and what not in Healing. You'd have to ask the spellcaster or the potionmaster. They both know all those things. Though don't ask Dom today, it wouldn't be worth the migraine to get something out of her."

"If it's still itchy later tonight, I'll ask them. I'll just ignore it for now."

Rose yawned and sat up in bed. "God, _noon_ already you said. Merlin my head is pounding."

"Yeah, next time we go out I will make sure we have hangover potion beforehand," Molly remarked. "And with your headache I say either don't leave your room all day or head outside for the day. I recommend going outside, and drinking lots of water."

"She's that bad eh? You're staying here?"

"Yes, the triplets are coming over for their monthly visit and if I leave Dom alone with them, someone is really going to die."

"Why?"

"Because those three are just so. . . different, and just are, well I don't know. They haven't had a good childhood and so are rebelling against everything. I swear they are trying to blow me up with their minds or something everytime they come over. Bitchy Dom is _not_ going to tolerate them at all, and they are _not_ going to tolerate her. I tried telling her to leave for the afternoon but she threw a toilet brush at me before puking in the toilet."

Rose swung her legs onto the floor and put her hands in her hand. "They sound interesting. . . " She yawned again. "Man I should have a shower."

Molly giggled from the bed and pointed at Rose's legs. "Flood pants much?"

"I know, I know. Lucy told me they were hers, but I think they are Dom's."

"Probably. She's so short."

"She really is! Taking the Delacour side of things. Okay I'm gone," Rose stood up and dragged herself to the bathroom, keeping an eye out for Dominique.

The shower was good for her with the hot water loosening up her tense muscles from her flashback dream. Having that dream made her want to leave England, leave the country and travel somewhere else in the world. She vividly remembered why she gave up her wand in the first place and was very tempted to do it again and disappear into a muggle life.

She couldn't recall having such a vivid dream before. During her dream, she had felt she had been reliving that moment in her seventh year, that briefly happy moment. She tried not to dwell on it too much, or think about the event that followed about two weeks later, which was a disaster, and instead focused on the fact that she hadn't talked to Whitney in so long, and how hilarious dress robe shopping had been for them. She had just put conditioner in her hair when there was a banging on the door.

"Who the fuck takes a shower at noon?" an angry Dominique demanded as she pounded her fists against the door. "Open the door or I'll blast the bloody thing off its hinges."

Rose frantically washed out the conditioner. "Thirty seconds! I'm almost done!" she called.

"I have to use the toilet. Get. The. Hell. Out."

"Hold up one second Dom, just getting out of the shower now!"

She turned off the water as Dominique continued to beat at the door. Quickly grabbing a towel and wrapping it around herself she opened the door.

A black eyed and messy haired Dominique still in her pj's pushed past her and then slammed the door on Rose after pushing her out of the bathroom, barely missing her heels.

Rose glared at the bathroom door and then walked to her bedroom, dripping water along the way. Once in her room she snatched up her wand from the bedside table and thoughtfully tapped it against her chin before pointing it at a pair of trousers on the floor. She could do it, she just needed to concentrate.

"_Accio_ _jeans_!"

The jeans gave a flop on the floor but didn't come to her hands. "This is so embarrassing," she muttered to herself. She concentrated more this time, clearing her mind, and then tried again. "_Accio_ _jeans_!"

Luckily it worked and her trousers came flying to her. She breathed a sigh of relief and put them on, then rummaged in her very empty drawer for a shirt.

After she was dressed and had brushed out her wet hair, braiding it into a French braid, she walked to the kitchen to answer the call of her hungry stomach.

But first she came upon the sight of Dominique on the floor of the living room. She was lying on her stomach with her legs and arms spread wide like a starfish. Her head was pressed directly into the floor and she wasn't moving. Rose almost burst out laughing but she managed to hold it in as she joined Molly behind the kitchen counter, looking at Dominique.

"You know," Molly said, "she wouldn't have blasted the bathroom door down; I have her wand."

"Well, I was almost done anyway. And I didn't see you there telling her to shut up."

"I don't want to get on her bad side already. I'm going to have to deal with her for the next few hours."

"If she doesn't suffocate herself first."

"Not too worried. She'd just puke me back up afterwards; she hasn't kept any food down this morning."

Dominique groaned. "_S__top talking about me_. I can bloody hear you, you two blubbering-nitwits!"

Rose was finally overcome by the giggles and Molly joined her.

Dominique groaned again, with her face still pressed into the floor. "Why the hell do muggles drink alcohol? If this is what they deal with, are they all insane? Hangovers are _horrible_. . . "

"Not everyone is as privileged to have Hangover Potions, Dom. They probably deal with it better than you do though," Molly said.

"Not all the time," Rose whispered to Molly.

"Shut up, the two of you. You're making my headache and stomachache worse."

Molly shrugged her shoulders at Rose and noticed Rose's wrist.

"Oi, stop scratching your wrist!" Molly whispered, grabbing Rose's hand to stop it.

"I didn't even realise it that time, shit," mumbled Rose, inspecting her wrist and all the scratch marks on it.

"Well, try to stop; your wrist is going to be very red and tender for a bit. And - Oh! I just remembered, you got some letters this morning," exclaimed Molly as she walked to the entrance to get them and then handed them to Rose.

"Oh? Who from?" she asked as she stared at them. One was a large folder with her name written very fancily in ink across the front. The other was just a plain white envelope.

"Well the envelope was from Louis's owl, I believe. So I'm guessing that one was him, unless someone else borrowed his owl."

Rose's eyes got wide. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," she chanted as she tore it open and read it frantically. She hit her hand against her forehead and handed the letter to Molly. Molly read with it a smile.

_Dear the lovely, trying to be sneaky Rose Nymphadora Weasley_.

_HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA_. _Did you really think it would escape my notice that Albus gave you your wand back? Silly, silly. What a weak person he is, I told you he isn't worthy over me. I expect you before the next weekend to come clean my room. Sucks doesn't it, to have been outwitted? Nothing escapes the dashingly intelligent Louis Gideon Weasley, aka the Greatest Person on Earth, as he is now known to you. Don't make me write your parents. _

_Cheers, and enjoy your last free Sunday afternoon for a long time._

"How the hell did he find out?" grumbed Rose.

Molly laughed. "_Ooh_ Louis. So full of himself, goodness that kid is absolutely hilarious."

Rose huffed angrily, folding the letter back in the envelope. "Yes. . . so. . . _freakin_. . . hilarious. . . "

Dominique growled and then yelled at the two of them, "_HOLY HELL. Shut up already_. Who give a rat's ass about my annoying goob of a brother anyways. He should just go jump in a lake, _with you two if you don't shut it_."

"What's in the folder?" Molly asked with a nod of her head.

"Not sure yet. . . " Rose said as she started opening it. Inside were a bunch of papers and she pulled them out and looked at them confusingly for a moment.

"Uhh, I wonder if these got sent to me by accident. . . ?" she said as she flicked through them. It seemed to be a complete biography of one Randy Canwood, complete with a picture and all of his personal information.

"Err, do you know Randy. . . Canwood?" Molly asked as she stared at the pages with Rose.

"I'm pretty sure I don't, doesn't ring a bell."

"Merlin, look at all the information. Age, birthday, height, weight," Molly stated as she moved her finger down he page. "Marital status, family, physical features, education. . . What the heck? Why did this get sent to you?"

Rose looked at the folder again and stared at her name on the front. "I. . . I don't know. I mean, it has my name on the front?"

"Oh my god, look at the second page, and third! He has two pages of criminal activity. That is insane!"

Rose's eyes widened as she read some of them: drug trafficking, break and enter multiple times, assaulting an officer of law. . .

"Why on earth did I end up with this?" she said.

"SHUT UP!" Dominique screamed again, finally flipping over to her back she grabbed the pillow beside her and attempted to throw it at the two girls, but it only made it to the couch. Dom groaned loudly and then turned her attention to the ceiling in almost the exact same position as before, legs and arms still spread out like a starfish.

Rose sighed and whispered to Molly, "well we can figure it out later. I'm going to go out for a bit for fresh air."

Molly nodded and so Rose took her letter and the folder and put them in her room for now. She went back to the kitchen and made herself a sandwich to take with her, filled up her water bottle, and grabbed some fruit.

Quietly without disturbing Dominique, she opened the door and stepped out of the flat. She made her way downstairs and out into the lobby. She had just reached the glass doors to get outside when she came face to face with three girls, all very much shorter than her, all who had black hair and multiple piercings on their face. They stared intensly at Rose with their black-lined dark eyes. Rose, who was in their path, stepped to the side and let them go by. They walked by quietly without saying anything. Rose would bet a few fingers that these were the triplets Molly had referred to.

Rose stood and watched them use the appartment telephone by the elevators to call the her cousins' apartment, and then watched the door get buzzed open for them. As soon as they were gone did Rose shake herself and head outside.

She spent the afternoon sitting in the small park by her cousin's apartment reading her old sixth year charms textbook while slowly eating her way through her lunch. The sun shone warmly on her and when she got tired of sitting on the bench she moved to the grass. August was almost over and so she wanted to enjoy the sun for as long as possible, even taking a nap in the heat when she got bored of reading.

The rumbling of her stomach woke her a few hours later, along with the realisation that she was scratching her wrist again. It was still irritating her constantly, but she continued to try to ignore it and the overwhelming urge to scratch.

Brushing off a few ants, she made her way back to the apartment and went to the top floor after she entered the code her cousin's gave her the week previously.

Nobody was in sight, but she followed her nose to the kitchen and saw supper cooking on the stove. She deposited her bag in her room, ignoring the letters still on her bed before returning to the kitchen and giving the sauce for the pasta a stir on the stove.

She heard footsteps and turned around to see Molly. "I burnt myself," Molly said as she wrapped a bandaid around her finger. "How was the park?"

"Pretty quiet," Rose said and let Molly take over with the cooking. "Where's Dom?"

"Finally sleeping! Goodness I just about chucked her out of the window this afternoon, she was an absolute nightmare. One of the girls, Zoey, actually threw her teacup at her. It took everything in me not to laugh, it was absolutely hilarious. She totally deserved it."

"How old are the girls? I passed them on the way up, I think, and I honestly couldn't tell."

"They are fifteen, and one of them is a witch, couldn't tell you which one, but she would have been in first year when you were in sixth, I believe."

"Oh, yeah? None of them looked familiar at all."

"Well, their natural hair colour is brown. She probably would have looked way different back then."

"True that," Rose said. "Anything else exciting happen?"

"Scorpius flooed over, but I told him to leave you alone. And you got another letter, actually. It's by the phone. The envelope is black, which I find slightly weird but I guess some people do prefer the unconventional."

Rose nodded and walked over to the phone. The black letter was noticeable against the wooden table and she stared curiously at the letter before she felt her wrist twinge in pain.

"Holy hell. . . " she said, bending over and cradling her wrist. She was then overcome with another huge urge to scratch her wrist, an insane urge. Even though she knew she shouldn't, she couldn't resist maniacally scratching it again. Rose wouldn't be surprised if she saw blood soon.

She reached out to grab the letter and felt a weird sensation in her wrist as her hand got closer, but didn't think anything of it.

Her fingers touched the letter and she felt a jolt of electricity run up her body. Instantly her wrist felt as it was on fire. Pain, intense concentrated pain was on her wrist, no, inside her wrist. She jumped backwards in shock and hit the wall opposite her as she fell to her knees and curled her hand into her, trying to stem the pain.

"Rose, are you okay?" exclaimed Molly as she ran over to see what the hell happened.

"_ARRGGGHH_, my wrist, my wrist! HOLY FUCKING HELL," yelled Rose and she leaned forward and touched her forehead to the ground, taking large deep breaths. But it wasn't over yet. The pain was just getting started.

She felt her skin bubbling and lifted herself up to hold her hand out in front of her, staring at it. The skin around her wrist was no longer red; it was black and it was bubbling. Rose's fingers curling in pain still but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight in front of her. Molly was frozen in place staring at her wrist too. Her wrist expanded, and then decreased in size, all the while making gross contusions of her skin.

The pain got worse and Rose cradled her wrist to her again, leaning over it and counting numbers to try to stop focusing on it.

She got to 28 when the pain suddenly stopped.

Rose slowly lifted her wrist away from her body, and stared at it.

On her wrist was a thin red bracelet. It felt like it was metal as it was cold on her skin. Her wrist under it was more or less back to its normal colour, albeit a bit red and sensitive. Rose hesitantly touched the bracelet with her finger and it turned black. She felt a shudder run through her body. She tried to pull it off but as soon as it was over her wrist, her arm started tingling and so she didn't touch it again.

"Did that come from your skin?" Molly gasped, staring in shock at what just happened.

Rose noticed the small engraving on it and it sparked a hidden memory in her mind. She didn't say anything but lunged for the black envelope and ripped it open with shaking hands. She collapsed on the floor as she pulled out a red bandana and a letter. She read with horror at what the it contained:

_Welcome to the Organisation, Rose Weasley._

_You will have received earlier today a letter containing all the details of your target. This letter is just to serve as a reminder of the contract you signed the previous night._

_There is no way to get out of the binding on you, so please don't waste our time and try. Have fun with the blood bracelet. _

_You will find you have your memories back now. _

_Happy Hunting, _

_The Reds Inconnu_

She felt movement in her mind, and the previously absent voices started awake again.

_You are the largest idiot in London at this moment, _Marta said to her.

"Oh my god. . . " breathed Rose as the rush of memories instantly filled her mind. "Oh. My. God."

x-x-x-x-x


	7. A clowns nose and an unbeatable contract

August 19, 2026

* * *

><p>The streets were still empty, even in the light of the day. Rose shivered and pulled her coat closer to her as a cool gust of wind blew by. She was leading Louis Weasley down the different streets and alleys towards their destination. Around them, everything seemed to be shut down. Stores were boarded up and almost all windows were broken or had some sort of crack in them.<p>

Louis was in disguise. For his safety of identity, he had very reluctantly allowed his sister and cousins to transfigure his face so he didn't resemble himself anymore. Well, very reluctant was putting it mildly. He was so adamant against the changing of his features that Dominique just petrified him to make it easier to turn his short blonde hair brown and shaggy, angle his cheekbones differently, add a lot of facial hair, and turn his left eye brown.

Louis was one of the law lovers of the family and a major one at that. Rose was thankful that she and Louis were on good terms because even though her mother was a lawyer too, she didn't even want to think of asking her mom to accompany her. Louis had read books thicker than phonebooks and dictionaries; he lived, breathed, and ate complex decrees from the past and compared them to times of the present. He loved the intricate wording of lawyers and their discussions, and he even loved all the arguments and word play associated in the courts of the Ministry. He was currently only in his first year of school but it was his dream to work at the prestigious law firm _The_ _Hobbs and Tabasca Office_, located in Ireland.

He was very smart but he acted like an annoying brat to his sisters and a vain know-it-all to everyone else. Louis still lived at home at Shell Cottage though he had graduated from Hogwarts the year previously.

Louis was scratching his face, unused to having facial hair. "This amount of hair on any face is indecent. My face is itchy," he complained to Rose while continuously rubbing his hand over his beard.

"Shut up Lou," Rose said back, having heard him complain about the same thing for the past half hour.

He shot her an annoyed look and then cleared his throat quite pompously. "_Ahemm._" His hand didn't stop scratching his face.

Rose rolled her eyes and sighed, already sick of him and her promise after only a few hours. She had cleaned his room earlier in the afternoon to try to butter him up so he would help her out for a small task. However, his room had been disgusting, to put it lightly. It was almost as if he purposely dug in the garbage and littered it around his room, leaving her in a foul mood and Louis in an smug one.

"I mean, shut up the _dashingly intelligent_ Louis, who is the_ greatest person_ in the world. . . as if you don't have enough of an ego already. . . " She punched him hard in the shoulder.

"OW!" He glared at her as he rubbed where she punched. "Okay, there is no need to punch or say anything about my ego. Merlin, you are already abusing me and we have only been out of my house for ten minutes. I'm not Hugo, I am a high class and sophisticated young man. Too old for such fooler – are you mocking me? I just saw you making faces; how very rude. Rose Nymphadora, I will turn around and not accompany you to this barbaric place."

"Oh, cool it wise one. Just keep walking and shut up, we're almost there."

Louis huffed and stayed silent for a moment before: "Why did you have to transfigure a beard? Couldn't I have been in disguise without one, my face feels like ants are crawling on it!"

Rose punched him in the same spot on the shoulder and after he scowled at her, he shut up.

It had been three days since Rose had received the black letter and obtained the bracelet on her wrist. After all her memories had flooded back she remembered how she had so easily signed the contract, was so easily coerced into writing her name and it took no effort at all for her to put a blood thumbprint beside it. They had just asked if she wanted a chance to prove herself, a chance to travel, and a chance to start over. Perhaps what they were saying was complete bullshit, but she signed up all too readily. Her voices of reason had been blocked from her mind right after she put ink down, though she was already not paying attention to them because of the alcohol.

She had disguised Louis so she could bring him to the place she herself had been taken to read the contract. He was the perfect candidate since he was tight-lipped and had amble-knowledge in his field. There had to be a loophole, or some vague and unclear writing that could get her out of the contract. If there _was_ anything, Louis would find it. She didn't want to go find some criminal and bring him in; she was still practicing her magic again after four years of being wandless. She had to figure out her own life before she focused on something like this.

_Go over the rules again, just to be safe_, Marta said to Rose. She heard Greg sigh in her mind.

_You've already gone over them nine times with the poor kid, don't scare him away yet_, he said.

Rose thought about it, but then decided to just go over them again. She didn't want any mistakes to happen.

"Okay, remember rule one?" Rose said.

Louis rolled his eyes. "Good lord, not again."

"Louis," Rose said and then seeing the face he made she wearily added to his name. "I mean the _greatest _person on Earth."

"Rule one: my name has changed from Louis Weasley to Mark Bridlington and I am not to utter the name Louis Weasley under _their_ roof."

"Very good, rule two?"

"I'm _not_ an imbecile," he groaned.

"I didn't say what that you were. Let's just go through them all one last time."

He growled under his breath before unenthusiastically saying, "don't accept anything that anybody may offer."

Rose raised her eyebrows.

"Possible examples include, coffee, tea, money, books, a frog, new broomstick, yada yada yada. . . just don't accept anything."

Rose nodded. "Okay, rule three?"

"No names mentioned. Mine, my family, any pets, our school. . . "

"Righto," responded Rose.

_Don't forget the final rule_, Marta whispered helpfully when Rose was about to say they were finished. They had stopped outside a boarded up movie theatre and Rose wanted to finish talking outside before they went in.

Rose winced and asked Louis, "rule four?"

"We do not separate, not even if they offer me vanilla ice-cream with sprinkles, or candy. Unless it's licorice wands, then I can follow without guilt."

Rose furrowed her brows. "I'm serious Lou, we are going in, and going out. I have no idea what is going to happen in there, or who works there. It could be dangerous – I really don't know. You have one job and one job only, but if anything happens, whether it be bad or you feel threatened somehow – you are to apparate away immediately, no jokes, no games, no obnoxiousness. With or without me. Get yourself out."

"You make it sound as if we are breaking into the Ministry. Relax, I'm just reading the contract, you are asking questions and then we are departing. Easy peasy. And you forgot the rest of my name, _again_."

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea. . . And give me a freaking reprieve about your name. Just until today is over, this is_ too_ important to worry about that."

Louis sighed. "Okay, I suppose so, your obligation will resume at midnight tonight then. And it'll be fine with these people, stop worrying excessively."

"Your parents will kill me if anything happens to you, _and _my parents will too. They will call me foolhardy and young and naive."

"Merlin, you sound like your mom. Since when are you so fussy?"

Rose grabbed his collar and pulled him towards her. "Louis Gideon Weasley. My parents don't know about my stupid decisions and we are keeping it that way. Your parents think you went out book shopping. We can't arouse any suspicion. Molly will do her darndest to keep her trap shut, and your sister and Lucy don't know anything. So if something goes wrong here – well nothing can go wrong here, okay. Just follow the rules."

Louis sighed and loosened Rose's hand from his shirt. "You're wrinkling my shirt, it's brand new. But _fine_, I'll follow your rules."

"Okay good." Rose pointed to the boarded up door. "Well this is where we go in."

Louis finally noticed exactly where they were standing, and he didn't like it. Unfortunately to add to his first impression, a rat crawled out from under the building. He surveyed the old movie theatre with distaste.

"You aren't serious. _No way_. This is unsanitary and very dirty. And I just bought new robes!"

Rose narrowed her eyes. "Sometimes you remind me of Dominique. You sound just like her."

Louis sniffed loudly, he hated comparisons between him and Dominique. They butted heads like rams in mating season, always criticising and harsh on one another. "Blimey, I'll _go_ then. You first."

Rose grinned, glad she knew how to tweak his buttons, and then ducked down to enter through the gap in the wood. Her six foot one frame had a little trouble squeaking through but she made it with less grumbling than Louis, who was the exact same height only wearing wizard robes unlike her jeans.

Louis wiped himself off of dust. They both lit their wands.

"How did you manage to take a fugitive through that crack the first time you were here?"

Rose shrugged. "We didn't. The man spelled the door off and put it back on afterwards. But this is quicker and easier.

"Yet dustier and dirtier. . . _lovely_. I didn't sign up for the crawling."

"Shhhh," whispered Rose.

They continued walking forwards, Rose leading the way. Louis sqeaked a few times when he saw some rats and walked into a cobweb, but he didn't turn around and leave. After they passed what looked to be the old lobby, Rose led them down a side hallway and into the room that had was labelled 'Film Room One.' Rose stopped in front of a half faded picture of clowns on the side of the wall.

"I hope this works," she said. Louis looked at her, confused. Just as he was about to ask what she meant Rose stuck her finger out and pressed the red center of the clown's nose.

The floor instantly dropped and they were falling through a tunnel: down, down, down.

Their descent slowed the nearer the bottom they got and they came tumbling out onto the dusty floor.

"Welcome to the headquarters," Rose stated blandly, staring around her with distaste. She stood up and frowned. Nothing looked familiar. She recalled the memory of her night here and vividly remembered that there were benches everywhere, not an empty room. There was supposed to be a holding cell to the left of her instead of a desk with a man behind it.

"More dust! This is ridiculous, I'm going to be dry-cleaning for weeks now. Thanks for the heads up!" Louis muttered as he brushed himself off.

The room was brightly lit in contrast to the dim, dark room up above. Rose and Louis extinguished their wands as they approached the desk. The man was sitting there reading a book with his legs resting on the desk. He wore bright blue glasses and was wearing a red plaid shirt and purple corduroy trousers.

The man didn't look up from his book and when Rose and Louis stood there for a few minutes not moving the man finally asked, "how can I help you?" He seemed uninterested in the two and just asked his question because they hadn't moved away from him.

Rose smiled, but then it faded when the man didn't look up. "Well," she stated, "we're here to speak to Robert Cunningham."

Robert Cunningham was the only name she had heard the night she was here for he had personally given her the contract.

Still without lifting his eyes from his book the man said, "identification?"

Rose froze then. "Pardon?"

"What? You think we let just any person who tumbles down head in?"

"Err, no. What do you mean by identification?"

The man finally looked up at her annoyed. "If you don't know you can't pass."

Rose looked at Louis who was looking back at her with a puzzled expression. He shrugged his shoulders.

"I. . . I've got two letters in the mail from here and so I brought my lawyer here to talk -"

The man frantically waved his arms to interrupt her, finally dropping his book on his lap. "Sweet merlin, STOP! I _don't_ want to know. I just need identification. My god, _newbies. . _. !" he said the word with much exasperation and continued, "did you receive _something_ in one of the letters?"

He was obviously hinting at an obvious object and Rose understood with a widening of her eyes. She pulled out the red bandana and waved it in the air. The man gave a wry smile and nodded her forward.

"Second door on the left is Robert Cunningham."

The door beside the desk opened and Rose and Louis walked through, shutting it softly behind them. The door disappeared.

"That is creepy," Louis said with a worried glance at Rose. Rose made a face at the now empty wall.

"Quite."

The hallway was long and empty. Every door in it was closed without so much as a hint to what lay behind it. They walked forwards and stopped in front of the second door.

Rose knocked on the door and then heard a man say, "come in."

They entered.

There were full boxes littering the floor around a desk and a filing cabinet in the back corner. Rose's eyes went to the man behind the desk. Rose looked at him and asked hesitantly, "Robert Cunningham?"

He nodded and she was instantly confuzzled. This was not the man she remembered. This man was small and had dark skin and absolutely no hair. The man from a few nights ago had a head full of black hair and very broad shoulders. The man set down his quill and looked up at Rose and Louis. He had quick, calculating eyes and took their appearance in before speaking.

"How may I help you two," he asked.

"You're not Robert Cunningham!" Rose blurted out.

The man looked affronted. "I beg your pardon. Of course I am, why would I respond to Robert Cunningham if I was not he?"

"I don't know. But you aren't the man I saw who was using that name," Rose said.

The man stared at her and shrugged. "Perceptions can change. If you don't want my help the exit is the door immediately across from this one. If you do want my help, speak."

Rose needed answers and she didn't care who answered them, Robert Cunningham or not. "My name is Rose Weasley, and I was just here last Saturday night when I-"

"Ah, speak no more. This isn't for my ears."

Rose spluttered. "What? You – or someone named Robert Cunningham was there that night and made the contract I -"

"Yes, yes," he interrupted, "but I won't be able to help you."

"Why? Who will then? I'm not leaving this movie theatre unless my questions are answered," she stated.

"Turn left and then six doors farther down on the right-hand side is Clara Garwhistle. She can help you two."

"Thanks," Rose said and then pushed past Louis to get to the door. He gently shut the door behind them and followed Rose.

"Look behind you," he murmured to Rose. She turned and stared at the wall for a few moments before she could comprehend what she was seeing. The wall was only a few feet away, and the office door they just left was nowhere to be seen.

"Uhh, okay, that's weird. Is the wall following us, or is everything disappearing behind us?" Rose asked quietly, not really expecting Louis to know. They continued counting doors as they walked, occasionally looking behind them at the wall that was always only a few feet away, gobbling up the doors. There were no names on any of the doors, or any indication of people inside the rooms. Once they walked forward six doors Rose knocked again.

When met with another 'come in,' they entered.

Clara Garwhistle stared up at them with a small smile on her face and with her hands crossed in front of her on her desk. A middle aged woman, she had some strips of grey in her brown hair and a pair of round glasses perched on her nose. She seemed to be expecting them, with two chairs already in front of her and three coffee mugs on her desk. A kettle of boiling water was beside her.

She nodded at them. "Seat yourselves."

Almost mechanically Rose and Louis sat down in the wooden chairs.

"Can I get you two anything? Coffee, tea, water? Something stronger?"

Rose shook her head. "No thank you. This will just be a short visit."

Clara gave a calculating smile at them. "It's funny," she said thoughtfully as she grabbed one of the mugs in front of her. "Everyone says no to the offers of drinks. Every single person in the past thirty years has turned it down. It's almost if they think we are going to put an end to their lives through poisoned beverages. How silly."

"You sure?" she asked again. When Rose nodded Clara tapped the two remaining mugs with her wand and they disappeared. She put a teabag in the remaining cup and poured in hot water.

"So as you two probably heard, my name is Clara Garwhistle, and I can answer any questions you have pertaining to your assignment and our business here."

"I have a few questions most definitely," Rose replied. "My name is Rose Weasley, and this is my lawyer, Mark Bridlington."

Clara raised her eyes in amusement as Louis nodded at her. Rose had a feeling the disguise fell through as a small smirk appeared on Clara's face, but Clara didn't say anything.

Louis jumped in. "My client would like to see her contract, if you have it on hand here."

"Certainly," Clara said and rummaged in one of the boxes beside her desk. Like the last office they were in, boxes littered the floor and everything looked as if it had been half packed. Clara pulled out a folder and set it on the desk, pressing her hand firmly down on it to prevent it from moving even as Rose tried to grab it.

With her other hand, Clara took a sip of her tea. "You do realize you are the neither the first person who has received a contract in this manner nor the last person who will. The binding _is_ complete. Since you have the bracelet now, there is no way out of it other than to find your target."

"Well, I still would like my lawyer to check it over."

Clara was shaking her head. "This is a business, one that has been around longer than many people think. All loopholes have been covered. It would be a waste of your time to spend hours pouring over something that has been redone and redone over the centuries. It will reveal nothing unknown, new or unprecedented. You may ask any questions you want concerning it and read it if you still want to; however, don't say I didn't warn you."

"We'd still like to look," Rose said.

"Alright, your lawyer may take the contract and go into the room next door to read it over. We have confidential matters to discuss in here."

Clara swept her hand wide and pointed to the door to the left of her.

Louis whispered under his breath into Rose's ear, "I swear that door was not there before."

"This place is freaking me out," Rose said back quietly and then responded to Clara. "Mr. Bridlington can stay here and listen to the matters discussed in the room while reading the contract."

"No, it doesn't work like that. This is my office and my rules. If you want to know more about the circumstances that have befallen you then I really suggest that you let your lawyer leave the room. If you do not agree to those terms you will be removed from the premises. I highly suggest you go with option one. "

Rose looked at Louis and fiddled with the hem of her shirt. She really needed answers but she couldn't just let her eighteen year old cousin out of her sight, he was under her responsibility! She looked at Clara and knew that it would be useless to argue the matter. She was very strong-willed.

"I assure you it is completely safe and he will be alone in the room without interruptions."

"Well, _Mark. . . _" Rose shrugged her shoulders at Louis and he raised his eyebrows, astounded.

_Rule four, rule four!_ Marta exclaimed. _You can't let him out of your sight._

_I have to, or I will get no questions answered, _Rose thought back.

Louis put his hand on the folder and pulled it towards him from under Clara's hand. "I'll just take this and be off to read it then." He stood up abruptly and left through the door. Thankfully the door didn't disappear and Rose breathed a sigh of relief. It was just her and Clara alone in the room. Clara put her mug of tea down and calmly looked at Rose.

"So, you come here because you have questions about why you are in this contract, yes?"

Rose nodded.

"I would like to first point out that we do not make contracts to the unwilling. You gladly came here the Saturday night and all too readily signed up, free of will."

"But I was intoxicated! I didn't know what I was doing. . . "

"The point isn't that you didn't know what you were doing. The point is that you signed up and now you have to deal with the consequences. These are the consequences, blunt and simple: Find Randy Canwood in six months or less or you will lose your life."

Rose choked on her intake of breath and started coughing. She must not have heard that right.

"Wh - what?" she said between coughs.

Clara waited until Rose had stopped coughing before replying. "You heard right. You have six months."

Looking like a fish, Rose opened her mouth but no words came out. Clara gave a twisted grin at her.

"Of course you only have four months before you lose your hand. The blood bracelet is slowly poisoning your body with your own blood as we speak. That is the first action. This poisoning is what kills you after six months are up. Before that happens however, the bracelet tightens on your skin until it cuts through your wrist around four months from now. The second action. Then your hand is gone."

"You – you're joking?" Rose spit out, she could feel all the blood drain from her face, ironically. She looked at the bracelet on her hand and was repulsed by it. What Clara said was ridiculous and inhumane. She should be angry right now, but all she could feel was numbness. As if she was detached from her body.

_She must be tampering with your emotions; the Rose I know would have thrown that coffee mug at the woman_, Greg stated.

That thought didn't freak Rose out as much as it probably should of. She couldn't muster up the energy to do anything, didn't even feel like moving from the chair.

Clara began speaking. "Not at all. We are a business, and need results. We find that the incentive of your life has been effective for a quick takedown of your target. Nonetheless if you are slow about it you lose your hand, and perhaps a few fingers in the weeks before. Nobody likes to be disfigured. Even when your hand starts turning purple and black in the one month prior to when you will lose it seems to be incentive for many people. You _have_ ample time. . . Six months is more than you need actually, but if you can't bring in your target in the time limit the poison will stop your heart. You failed, simple as that. No mess, no pain; it's quiet and painless."

"Am I supposed to be relieved about that?" Rose said. She pulled her bracelet around her thumb, just barely getting it over. It was already tight enough that she had to tightly squeeze her hand closed. She was about to pull it off when she was interrupted.

"I wouldn't do that," said Clara. She was eyeing Rose's hand with almost a secret glee. "You will experience a tingling in your wrist. Then the tingling will travel down your arm to your stomach where you will feel sharp stabbing pains. Holes are appearing in the lining of your stomach at that moment. And when your lining is gone, acid will consume your body and disintegrate."

"That is _ridiculous_. What if someone forcefully takes it off my wrist? I have no control over that!"

"Well I suggest you never let yourself get into a situation where someone else is taking it off. Otherwise, you do have a half hour before everything is irreversible. If it ever happened, use you your time wisely to get the bracelet back as soon as possible."

Rose sat extremely still in the chair and stared at Clara, shocked. Clara seemed ruthless. Rose was afraid of her and she was afraid of the fact that she didn't have the upper hand in this conversation like she thought she would.

Clara continued, "of course that is only one side. There_ is_ a large recompense for bringing in Canwood. You will receive 450 galleons for your work when he is safely behind our bars."

"Oh? Well. . . 450 galleons for _my_ life? That makes me feel so much better."

"Sarcasm doesn't help you here. Maybe you should of thought more about what you were doing when you wrote your name down. Randy Canwood is an average criminal to bring in. He's not the worst out there and he's not the easiest. Depending on who it is, the price can range from 300 to 600 galleons for middlemen like him."

Rose inhaled sharply. "Are you sure this isn't some sort of prank? This isn't – doesn't seem. . . humane!"

"Oh I assure you I am not joking. This is serious and I am doing my best to answer your questions so you have no doubts about your task and can understand the full implications of everything. We do not like needless deaths, which have happened in the past when people don't take this seriously. The curse on the bracelet? Perhaps it isn't quite 'humane' like you say, but there are worse curses out there and this one is reversible with no future harmful effects when you bring your target in."

"But - the ministry – I could bring. . . there has to be something that prevents – a law or. . . "

A hard glint appeared in Clara's eyes. "You can try. _Bring_ the Ministry, _go_ find Aurors, _go_ to the Magical Law Enforcement and appeal your case to them. Some might even come rushing to the aid of a pretty, young woman. Bring them to our doorstep and take them to the clown picture. Press the red nose. . . _but nothing happens_. Blast a hole through the ground to access the sub-basement, _b__ut nobody is here_. You swear there was someone there before, you show them the bracelet, but they start to doubt you. There is no trace that anybody has been in the building for years. _Look_ at the layer of dust, _look_ at the rotten floorboards. They leave you in disgrace and now you are all alone. Nobody believes you, you cannot find headquarters anymore because nobody will tell you where it has moved. You then die, because even if you did find your target, well, where are you going to take him to get the curse removed and your contract voided? You see Rose, you can bring the Ministry if you would like. By all means go for it, but you can't say you weren't warned."

"Well, I'm not _going_ to, it was just a question."

"Do you think Rose, that the _Red Inconnus_, a business that has been around for a few hundred years has not thought of everything? Countless contracts, countless lawyers, and countless criminals. This is nothing new, your questions are nothing new. I say it again, it is _you_ that signed the contract and gave your blood. You now have to deal with the consequences of that action. It makes all the difference. Very, _very_ few in the Ministry know we exist. They know there are organizations out there like us, but we aren't regulated. We are out of their jurisdiction; they can't threaten us. Even if they did, well it's very easy to change locations, change identities, change lives. ¸You have a task before you now and you are stuck with it. I suggest you figure out what you need to do, and quick."

Clara put down her empty mug with a bang and Rose jumped. She still felt numb. She felt like she needed time to think and to process what she was told.

_You should leave soon, this place isn't healthy, _Marta suggested.

"I brought a lawyer today?"

"Please, your 18 year old cousin doesn't count. We do permit it just one time, because even though there is no way out of the binding, it quiets the person complaining when someone they know and trust tells them the same thing."

There was a knocking on the door and Clara flicked her wand to open it. Louis was standing there with a worried face and the stack of papers in his hand. He took a step in the room and put the papers on the desk and dropped into his chair beside Rose.

He cleared his throat. "I – I have read the contract. And while it is very, very thoroughly written I do have two questions pertaining to small matters I found rather. . . brutal."

"Mark, there's no need, it's useless. Let's just get out of here," muttered Rose as she rubbed her eyes and leaned back in the chair. They needed to leave, to get out of the small office. She needed a clear head and nothing was clear in the office.

"There are a few important things that are very morbid written down on that paper. This can't be for real?" he whispered back at her.

"This whole thing is a horrible dream," she said to him and then turned to Clara. "Thanks for your time and for answering my questions. We'll leave now."

"Of course. You are free to share this information with whomever you would like during the running course of your contract, but beware of people's reactions. They are always more harmful than helpful, and you do have certain. . . boundaries I'm sure you will discover. Remember this is your task, and your task alone. Your lawyer can answer any other questions you have as he now understands some other aspects of your contract we didn't touch today. You are also welcome back anytime. However, your lawyer is not. There are stairs that lead outside directly across from this room. You can lead yourselves out."

Rose stood up and grabbed Louis's hand, quickly pulling him to his feet and dragging him out the door. They barely took note of the fact that they were enclosed between two walls, instead of the one. There was no long stretch of hallway on either side of them. It was a one way path to the exit. They raced up the stairs, back to the streets of London.

Rose took a few deep breaths of fresh air and looked at Louis. She could feel her emotions on the fritz, everything was haywire.

Louis looked at her critically. "You broke rule four."

Rose snorted loudly and put her face in her hands, rubbing her temples. She could always count on Louis to be Louis no matter the crisis.

He managed to put on a small smile but he turned serious quick.

"That contract. . . I have_ never_ read anything so complete and comprehensive. I wonder how many times it has been rewritten, because wow, it is a piece of art; even though it is _sick _and _disgusting_. One horrible thing I read was that you couldn't get rid of the bracelet, or the spirit of the bracelet - if that makes sense. You will never be out of the contract until action one is complete, whatever that means. Even if you commit suicide, your contract gets passed onto the nearest living relative who has the closest blood type to you, willing or not."

"That's bloody horrible. . . " Rose started walking away and Louis ran to catch up while he continued talking.

"The other major thing worth noting was that you could technically transfer your contract to another willing person to get yourself out of your responsibility. Only the consequences would impact him or her by the time shortening by half, and the first action would still take place with you if this person were to not succeed. I don't understand some of what I said because I wasn't present for your conversation with Clara, but I hope it helps. There are really no loopholes, unfortunately."

The two things he mentioned didn't help her situation at all, but it was good to know all the same."Yeah, Clara made it _quite_ clear that there was no way out. Thanks for coming with me Louis, even though we did break one of the rules, it was nice to have someone I know and trust."

"You should probably sit down, you look like you're going to faint."

"Oh I'm not going to, I just need to think, but sitting is good. Let's get off these deserted streets first. I need people and happiness around me right now."

Louis reached for Rose's hand and apparated to the safe spot in the alley beside Dominique's, Molly's, and Lucy's flat. They went to the small park nearby to find a bench.

Rose sat staring at the playground, hunched over, with her head resting on her hands while Louis sat with perfect posture. He was fiddling with his fingers in silence.

_There is really no choice now, you have to commit to your task_, said Marta.

_Don't worry love, we're here with you the whole way_.

This would be something she would have to do by herself, she decided. She had next to no experience with law enforcement or any tricks of the trade to being an Auror even though it was the careers for a few members of her family. Rose couldn't let Molly spell her bracelet to find out its properties, even though she had been asking the past few days. She couldn't consult anybody though, no friends or family. No hints or questions about anything that could give this away. It was too dangerous for them and definitely too dangerous for her. She could worry about herself later after this was all finished one way or another.

It was surreal to think about the fact that just this morning she was wanting to leave England to go travelling again. Now she couldn't. Not for half a year. She had to go find Canwood, wherever he may be, and essentially capture him by herself. Even though she half thought she might be insane from the voices, it was nice to have them in her head guiding and helping her. Knowing everything.

"The man and the contract," Louis asked after a good twenty minutes of silence, "what does it all mean?"

She really had no choice. Four months before she would lose a hand and six for her life. She lifted her head off her hands and looked at them closely. She had large, freckled hands and had always been embarrased about them before. But she would never want to lose one; they were hers, uniquely hers. It was all a matter of perspective.

She had been independent her whole life, how would this be anything different? It was another challenge. This was her task alone and she could do it.

Rose decided one thing right then.

She would figure it out, take the bad with the good. Stay positive.

_Four months_.

"It means I'm going bounty hunting."

X-X-X-X-X


	8. A wok and burn cream

August 23, 2026

* * *

><p>"You added way too much ginger and pepper."<p>

"What are you talking about? I added the perfect amount! This needed more flavour; it was very bland before. Bleeggh."

"You called _that_ bland? That was my masterpiece of a sauce for the stir fry! It doesn't need to be touched up. Honestly! _Women_!" exclaimed Albus as he retested the sauce for perhaps the fortieth time. While the extra ginger and pepper didn't exactly hurt it, the sauce was still missing _something_. He just couldn't figure it out. He looked at his partner Avani Singh; they were both co-owners and Head Chefs in their restaurant _The Cricket at your Hearth, _a name they came up with after much debate. They had met at culinary school in London, later deciding to start a business after they found they had very similar ideas for what they wanted in a restaurant. Albus raised his eyebrows as Avani retested the sauce as well.

"Okay, no it's not the ginger. . . oregano? No. . . I just can't think of what it needs! It's something. . . " she snapped her fingers together. "It needs tabasco sauce! We need some zap in this wok. Get the customer's mouths fired up!"

Albus groaned. "You can't add tabasco sauce to everything! I wish I kept you away from Lucy. . . _why_ oh _why_ would she introduce you to that horrid sauce."

"It's quite tasty and deli-umptious!"

Albus shuddered. "Not at all, it _burns_! You and everything spicy! It's not natural."

"Ooooh, boo-hoo. It's my culture and I grew up with it, if our places were switched I bet you would love spicy and flavourful food! But trust me on this; I won't add Lucy amounts. . . "

Albus covered his eyes. "I can't watch this, please don't ruin my stir-fry!"

"_Our_ stir-fry," she corrected.

"_Sorry_. . . "

She smiled at him though he didn't see and she added the tabasco sauce. After retrying it again, she added more garlic.

"Okay, you can look now and try. It tastes magnifico!"

Albus uncovered his eyes and looked doubtful at the wok. He gave it a few stirs before picking up some vegetables and eating them. His eyes widened and he nodded.

"Okay, okay. Perhaps you were right with the tabasco. It isn't overpowering everything else, but it just adds that. . . well zap I guess."

Avani tucked one of her brown curls behind her ear. "Told you! What would you do without me? So we'll have this as the special in two weeks?" She started writing the ingredients for the sauce down on paper in front of her.

After she finished scratching everything down on the paper, Albus double-checked it. He tipped the contents of the wok onto two plates, leaving some food for Scorpius when he was back from work. "I think so. We haven't featured a stir-fry for quite some time. This week is fish and rice, and in three weeks it's something Italian – which we still need to figure out what we're cooking."

"Alrighty-o, _Chef Potter_. I have oodles and oodles of ideas."

"Of course you do. Just eat up, _Chef Singh_."

They each grabbed their plate and sat down at the table, talking about their restaurant and business: the menu, pricing, building maintenance, advertising, food sales, employees, and goals for the future. Their business had started out slow, but having a weekly special that varied in flavours each day and a flexible menu with many different foods from around the world helped the restaurant attract attention. It also didn't hurt that the name Potter was leaked to the press.

The two worked well together. Avani was creative and the risk taker with the food while Albus was more by-the-book. They worked off each other and balanced their kitchen out. When they were in the middle of supper or lunchtime, Avani kept Albus grounded so he didn't yell at everyone, and he kept him from getting frustrated and messing up orders during the rush.

They continued talking and eating until Scorpius flooed in. As he walked into the kitchen, Albus noticed that he was clutching his arm and looked to be in pain. The blue sleeve of Scorpius's shirt was all black, burnt, and tattered. What skin could be seen on his arm was bright red.

"You alright?" asked Albus slowly, as he stood from his chair.

Scorpius winced and walked over to the table.

"Yes," he said calmly. "I will be okay in a second. Al can you go to my room and look for the burn cream Dominique made for me a few months ago. It should be in the trunk at the foot of my bed. It's in a blue container with a large B and C on it."

Albus nodded and quickly left to get it. Avani was looking at Scorpius's arm with apprehension. She backed her chair up so she wasn't as close to him and his arm.

"Uh, it looks like you fried your arm right up. . . "

Scorpius sighed and mumbled, "someone else did it for me, actually. Stupid bastard."

"I hope you gave him what he deserved back. Your arm looks. . . _freaky_."

He shook his head. "Missed him. Would you mind getting me a glass of water?"

"Oh!" Avani jumped up with a nervous giggle. "Right! Yeah it's no problem whatsoever! I can't believe I didn't even think of asking you. You're injured, that should have been the first thing I said. Water, water's important."

She grabbed a cup, filled it, and brought it over, backing away again after he grabbed it. Scorpius released his arm, revealing a reddish black area where the skin had bubbled and was peeling, and drank the whole glass in one go. His hand was shaking the whole time. Avani gagged a few times before averting her eyes.

Albus entered with the cream and looked in horror at the burn. "Holy hell, I'm not touching that. You should just Floo over to the girls' flat and have them look at that burn. That looks serious. I'm pretty sure this cream is only good for minor to intermediate burns!"

"No this will work. . . It's great stuff. . . very effective. . ."

Albus unscrewed the lid for him and immediately Scorpius reached in and scooped some out, applying it generously to his arm. He sighed in relief; the cream was a coolant with a healing spell infused, soothing his arm and almost instantly getting rid of most of the redness from his wrist to shoulder. The worst part of the burn didn't heal, but it felt way better than it did before as most of it was numbed.

Scorpius leaned back in his chair and rested his head against the back, finally relaxing his shoulders and breathing a little more evenly. Avani and Albus were both still standing and eyeing him like he was about to combust any minute.

"If you still want to be useful, one of you can get the first-aid kit from the bathroom," he stated.

"Okay, I'll do it!" they both yelled at the same time and both immediately ran out of the room.

It was Albus who returned a few seconds later with a sheepish face. "She beat me to the stairs. . . so yeah."

"You two sure keep calm in the face of injuries," Scorpius chuckled.

Albus looked embarassed. "Heh. . . well you know. If you just would go straight to the girls' flat, then we wouldn't be all freaked out here! Your arm looks disgusting mate."

"I have most of the healing stuff I need upstairs, so I don't need to go every time I'm hurt," he said.

"You're hurt bad now! I'd recommend it. Go. _Really_!"

"I'm not going. I'll be fine."

"Uh, no you won't," insisted Albus. "It could get infected, and they will even feed you. Why don't you just go?"

"I can't go now, to there. It's just weird. . . and, I don't want to face her - I mean go – there. . . now." Scorpius scowled as he finished his sentence, realizing the mess of it.

Albus raised his eyebrows. "You don't want to face _Rose_? That's why you aren't going over to the trained Healers to get your burn properly healed? You are such a chicken shit. And _stupid_."

Scorpius glared at Albus and opened the first aid kit that Avani just brought in. He added a bit more of the burn cream before he started wrapping his arm in a white bandage. Albus and Avani watched from a few feet away.

"There is some supper on the stove if you'd like some, after you know, you're done with that," said Avani.

"Yeah I'll grab some in a moment. I hope it's good."

"It is," the two chefs said at the same time.

Albus cooked eighty five percent of all the meals in their flat; the other fifteen percent of meals were leftovers each day from the restaurant. Scorpius figured he had the best deal; he didn't have to cook or wash dishes. The whole kitchen was pretty much off limits for him because Albus had a certain way everything had to go; each dish had a specific place and even a specific way it had to be cleaned. Avani was the only other person allowed to cook and clean in the kitchen, as she was 'qualified.'

The two started washing up as Scorpius began to eat. Albus managed to wait until Scorpius was half-way done his plate before interrogating him. "So what's the deal with the burn? It's not something 'top secret' this time, is it?"

"Nah, not top secret," he sighed. "The stupid bastard likes his hexes. And I wasn't expecting him at all where I was hidden."

"This wasn't Gradford himself then, or was it?"

"No, some random named Canwood. I haven't gotten within spitting distance of Gradford in three weeks. He is being more careful and has hired a few more henchmen to crawl around his base. They know that someone is after him after last week's slip up and so they are out full force, hexing anything that moves."

"And you just got in their way today, didn't you?"

He gave a wry grin. "You know me. Can't resist sticking my nose everywhere. . . Always have to see how far people can go before they react. . . " He trailed off with a frown. Unfortunately that fact was truer than he really liked to admit sometimes, but it was what made him good at tracking and finding people who didn't want to be found.

Stiple Gradford was the man that Scorpius had been tracking for the past two months, checking up on an anonymous tip that he was the man in charge. He was looking for the resident drug lord of East London, a man who infiltrated both the wizarding and muggle worlds distributing the highly addictive wizarding drugs to all takers. And Scorpius was sure it was Gradford with the evidence he had found.

Clever, ruthless and terrified of the outside world where someone could apprehend him and lock him away from his millions, he hired men specifically to guard him and his different hide-outs. He was known to many as eccentric and scared of his own shadow, always getting his henchmen to do his dirty work. Nonetheless, he was intimidating when face on, and few people ever made it out of his hide-outs in one piece. He was a tricky man to find, but Scorpius managed to do it, though he had never met the man.

Scorpius was by himself on the case for the moment because the Aurors were stretched very thin. Over half of them were in the northern regions of England, trying to find an incredibly dangerous and psychotic wizarding couple who were killing Muggles. The other half were working on an international case with the Ministry of Finland, though Scorpius wasn't qualified to know anything about that. As Scorpius was still a young Auror and only been working for two years, he was assigned to stay in London on a less important case. Less important being he was just supposed to collect information for the full Auror's so when they were free, _they_ could nab the guy. Gradford didn't have control over the whole city, just the east end, but his reign was expanding quickly and it needed to be shut down within the year.

As soon as Scorpius finished eating, he levitated his plate to Avani. She yawned as she finished washing it and handed it to Albus for drying. "Well, I hope your arm heals up well. That was not a pretty sight."

"I'm sure it will, I've had worse," replied Scorpius.

Avani nodded and yawned again. Albus grinned at her. "Tired?"

She scowled. "Yes! We honestly work over twelve hours a day, it does get exhausting sometimes – so much to do, all the time. . . but yes, I'm going to header home now and call it a night. I'm beat."

"Okay, see you tomorrow then."

"You betcha, eight again I take it?"

"Yes ma'am," said Albus and Avani grinned at him before she left the room to go to the fireplace.

"Do you ever take a break from work?" Scorpius asked, but Albus didn't answer for he was distracted by a thought. He turned away from the sink and looked at the doorway before quickly walking to it and looking out.

"Yeah. . . this weekend I went _did_ on. . . Wednesda – I mean Saturday. . . _Avani!_" he called. "Hold up one second."

She paused in front of the fireplace, the Floo powder in her hand, and looked up. "Yes?"

"I forget if I asked you already, but next Sunday, August the 30th – what are you doing?"

"You didn't," Avani said, "and nothing that I can think of right now?"

Albus nodded. "Alright, okay. Well my family is having their annual end of summer get together that day and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me in the morning and help my Nana Molly cook. I mean you don't have to if you don't want, or you can come around lunchtime when almost everyone else shows up, instead of cooking and setting up in the morning, but you're invited. That's kinda what I meant to get at."

Avani's smile got wider. "I would love to come help out Al, but I thought that your get together was only for. . . well, family? I don't want to barge in with you all."

"Well, the past few years, because there was so many of us, it was family. But this year it seems like half of them can't make it. We still want a decent crowd so it's open to close friends now. And so I'm inviting you," assured Albus.

"Yeah, I'll come help cook, no problemo. My social calendar isn't really booming nowadays anyway."

"Alright, thanks! You can Floo over here in the morning around nine and we can head out together."

"Sounds great, later you two!" She then stepped in the fireplace, flooing to her flat.

Albus watched the fireplace until the flames died down to faintly smouldering embers. He turned around and jumped, seeing Scorpius leaning in the doorway. Scorpius raised his eyebrows at Albus. "You fancy her," he stated.

Albus stared at Scorpius for a full minute before he comprehended what was just said. "Oh, I don't fancy her, we are just colleagues."

Scorpius's eyebrows went up. "You spend practically every day with her. It was bound to happen."

"Scorp, I don't. We're just really good friends. I like spending time with her, but I don't like, _like_ her."

"_Yes,_ you do."

Albus ran his hands through his hair and shook his head. "Look, mate, if you fancy a girl you are supposed to be nervous around her and get butterflies in your stomach. . . All that _nancy_ stuff. I don't get butterflies nor am I nervous around her, therefore I don't fancy her!"

"You're comfortable around her, that's why you're not nervous around her anymore. I bet when you first met her you were nervous."

Albus sat down on the couch in exasperation. "Of course I was. Avani is so loud, how could I not be nervous? But I'm nervous around everyone I meet the first time. That doesn't prove anything."

Scorpius scoffed and grinned at his clueless friend. "More than you know! You're rarely nervous around people you meet for the first time you git, you are bloody over-friendly, giving handshakes, and offering drinks and food. You like her. Just admit it!"

"_Woah_, woah, woah. . . well you must like. . . _Rose_ then, for isn't another sign of liking people calling them names? You had bloody well ten stupid nicknames for her at Hogwarts, none of which she liked!

Scorpius faltered, not prepared for Albus's new attack. "I. . . no. . . we -"

"See, exactly! You-"

"I don't even know her," Scorpius blurted out, cutting off Albus. "How can I possibly like someone who I don't know. She isn't the same girl she was in Hogwarts. Hell, I don't think I'm the same either. Everything has changed. Everything is different."

Albus rolled his eyes. "Good excuse birdbrain. She hasn't changed as much as you think. You have to spend more time with her to figure it out. If you didn't run every time you saw red hair. . . ! But you _do_ like her, and you did back at Hogwarts too. The signs are all there!"

"_Your_ signs are all there. You like Avani. I don't like Rose. Simple as that. It's not rocket magic."

"You're _wrong_. You haven't gone out with any girls since Hermione Smeaton and you dated that psycho for two years. You haven't gone near a girl since except Lucy, Molly, and Dom. . . " There was a pregnant pause and then Albus gasped. _"No!_"

"NO!" yelled Scorpius in horror, waving his hands. "S_top drawing conclusions_! I don't fancy anybody. Especially not Lucy, Molly or Dom! Stop changing the subject from Avani and how you fancy her! This isn't about Weasley at all! I'm the one who's right! Remember when Avani cut her finger on your new kitchen knives? You wanted to take her to St. Mungo's. Just for a little cut!"

"Those knives hadn't been washed yet! That cut could have been infected! And it has to be Rose you fancy, there has been no other girl who you've had _'the signs'_ with! You just spilt your tea last week when she fainted; obviously something is there!"

"Al, you're wrong! Get that silly notion out of your head!"

"Seriously, just admit it," growled Albus.

"_You admit it_! I don't fancy Rose, she's your bloody cousin for crying out loud! I'm going to bloody well hex you if you don't shut up!"

Al took a deep breath and paused for a moment. "Alright, diplomacy. . . I'll stop harping on you about Rose if you stop harping on me about Avani. We're both being stupid. We don't fancy them, simple as that. We're 'drawing conclusions,' as you said, stupid conclusions."

Scorpius eyed him warily as if the statement was a trick but nodded his assent. "We're just being stupid, _okay_. Making all this stuff up. . . stupid, _stupid_."

"Brilliant. Anyway on the subject of Rose, _I'm not saying anything like that_; I got some interesting letters today I want to run by you."

"You want to run them by _me_?" he replied, confused.

"Yes, let's go to the kitchen. It has better light."

Scorpius sat back down in his spot from a few minutes ago, tapping his hand while Albus went to get the letters. He was utterly confused as to why Albus wanted him to read his private letters. He was also a little miffed that Rose was still going to be in the conversation. He really didn't want to talk or think about her.

"The first one is from James. He sent this to me because Rose sent him a letter asking for the cloak. Quite curious, he thought. Apparently also bored out of his mind. I see Rose more than he does, and you're an Auror, and he just found everything. . . very odd." He passed the letter to Scorpius.

_Albussss Severuuuuussss,_

_Rose just sent me a letter. And I stuck it behind this one for you to read. What's up with her? She used Code TwinkleRhinoGriff. That means serious stuff. I actually have to go dig for the cloak and find it! And then I HAVE to send it to her. . . Honestly, what does she need it for? Go take your roomie and snoop out the situation. Something is up. Then when you figure it out let me know ASAP. I need something to do! Ryley is making me sleep on the couch tonight and so I am already bored as hell. _

_The better looking Potter brother,_

_James_

_P.S – don't forget to read the letter she sent me_

_P.P.S – send a letter back quick with answers_

Albus set Rose's letter beside the one from James.

_James – _

_Code TwinkleRhinoGriff. Need the cloak ASAP. So get off your arse and send it right now. I know you have it._

_Rose_

"Code TwinkleRhinoGriff?" Scorpius asked a little disbelievingly.

"Yeah, we made that up when we were all little because there was about eight of us in the family at Hogwarts at one point. The cloak and map are very cool and so everyone wanted to use them. Since we only had one of each we made codes for how urgent the situation was and who could use the cloak and map that night. Code TwinkleRhinoGriff basically trumped everything else and it's essentially 'don't ask questions, don't stall, worry about consequences later and whoever has the cloak or map must give it immediately.' This is the third time I've seen it used."

"So it's a big deal?"

"Yes."

Scorpius scanned the paper carefully, looking at Rose's messy and quick scrawl. Her name was barely legible, same with the text. If he had to guess, he would say she was worried, in a hurry, or scared when she wrote it. But he had never really inspected her handwriting before. Perhaps she wrote like that all the time?

"Well I don't know what you want me to do, do you have other writing I can compare this to?"

"Ah, I don't think so. And well I suppose there is nothing that you can do, but the question is why does she need the cloak? It most likely isn't for some prank."

Scorpius shrugged, he had no clue.

Albus pulled a second letter out. "I also have this letter from her. Because I sent one to her after I got James' and told her that she had to come houseclean here, because of our whole contract about her wand. I was going to ask her questions about the cloak if she came, but she didn't. Basically she told me off, quite rudely too."

Scorpius read with amusement:

_Al_

_I don't give a shit that your kitchen needs cleaning. Do it your bloody self. I'm not in the fucking mood. And tell James to stop prying._

_R_

"So what am I supposed to take from this one?" Scorpius asked.

"Rose never swears when she writes. Never ever."

"Well she has a bad swearing habit, you said, so why would it not transfer to her writing?"

"'Cause she thinks before she writes, and she finds it too vulgar to write swear words. It's always more controllable to her by writing. She only swears because she doesn't take the time to filter her words; she's that impulsive. But obviously something is up with her. This is weird, even for her."

"What are you going to do then?"

"_You_ are going to find her, bring her back here, and then interrogate her," Albus stated.

"Ha!" Scorpius stood up. "Fat chance. She's not a criminal and if she wants to talk, she'll come find you. I'm not _kidnapping_ her."

"Lame. Way to be a party pooper Scorp. What am I going to tell James?"

"Tell him that he can do his own dirty work, or just leave her alone. Whatever she is doing is her own business and even though we are curious, we can't just barge in."

"Perhaps," Albus said thoughtfully. He was very surprised by that statement. It was very out of character for Scorpius - not wanted to know what was going on with Rose. Normally he wanted to know the answers to everything and had to find out little secrets. The fact that he barely seemed curious made Albus wonder what was up with him.

Albus noticed Scorpius walking away and then stopped him with a question.

"You're going to bed?"

"Yes. It was a long day, and I want my burn to heal better."

"You're coming to the end of summer get-together we're having in a week, right?"

Scorpius looked pointedly at Albus, "I wasn't _aware_ I was invited. . . "

"That's ridiculous. Of course you are, and make yourself free that day because you need a day off once in awhile. I'll write Duncan if I have too. But you can come in the morning or early afternoon. We eat at four."

Scorpius nodded and then stayed on the stairs, tapping his foot and looking at Albus with an eyebrow raised.

Albus chucked a pencil at him. "Oh go to bed already. Of course Rose is going to be there, learn to live with it, and man up already."

"You're ridiculous."

"No you are."

"We're not starting this again! _Goodnight_."

Scorpius swore silently to himself. He always spoke freely to Albus. He had to do it on his job so he didn't want to do it at his home. However, Albus was fairly perceptive about his nature. Even though Scorpius wouldn't admit it, he was _insanely_ curious about the whole matter. He was tempted to pretend to go to sleep and then sneak out later and see if Rose was somewhere she wasn't supposed to be. He could easily tail her. _But no_. He wouldn't go after Rose, couldn't; it wasn't morally right to him, and other than going to Hogwarts with her and making a mess of their. . . whatever it was, he had no other connection to her besides living with Al. She didn't need people prying into her life. He was going to stay away.

* * *

><p>That night while Scorpius and Albus were snoring in their sleep, a certain talked about member of the Weasley family stood outside in almost complete darkness. She had the invisibility cloak on and was staring through the living room window at a man sitting on the couch.<p>

Nothing had changed.

The wrench from a few weeks ago was still on the floor and the broken TV had been pushed behind a new one. There were beer bottles around him and dirty dishes stacked beside him. He looked like a wreck, worse off than before.

Rose stared without moving until her legs grew numb. She didn't go inside even though that had been the plan. Well, she actually didn't have a plan about how she was going to get her things back. She had hoped inspiration would strike as she stood outside, but instead she just felt disgust and a need to get away from the small house. She also felt a tinge of guilt, sadness, and regret. Regret that she couldn't help him in the place he was now, sadness for the choices he made after his accident, and guilt she wasn't still trying something. It all could have been so different.

Her things could wait, even though she desperately wanted to retrieve her pictures. They were the most important items in the house and the window was too squeaky to open in the bedroom in the dead silence of night.

Rose lost her nerve. Her need to leave overgrew her want of thinking and she backed a few metres away from the window and closed her eyes as she held out her wand in her left hand. She concentrated on her destination: visualizing and imagining it. She was there, in every way except bodily and then she flicked her wrist. She disappeared with a crack.

x-x-x-x-x


	9. A conspicuous alley and a sinkhole

August 24, 2026

* * *

><p>Rose had a plan and it was going to be <em>so<em> easy. She was going to end this stupid thing not even a week into the contract. After reading the bio of Randy Canwood multiple times, it became obvious to her that the place he would most likely be would at were the warehouses on the Thames. It was the headquarters of his possy or whatever they were and it seemed to be the most direct way to find Canwood.

She would be leaving under the cover of darkness because the bio hinted that the warehouses were where he could be found most nights. The only problem was that it was warehouses, plural. Rose didn't know which one it would be, but she hoped she could just walk around and snoop and he would show up. She was going to be under the invisibility cloak the whole time and so nobody would see her.

It was going to be that simple: find the place, get inside, find Canwood, knock him out, get bracelet off wrist. Of course, Marta was imploring her not to go; she needed to find more information and needed to safely make a plan. Rose couldn't worry about safety because if she didn't do this, she would die anyway. She had to wing it - since how could you plan the unexpected?

The only thing she prepared for was her attire. Even though she had the invisibility cloak, she wanted to be unseen in case of slipups. She bought black dye at the store and turned one of her two pairs of trousers, one long sleeve shirt, and a pair of socks to _Darkest Midnight_ in the kitchen sink.

Dominique was furious, for the sink hadn't exactly washed clean of the dye.

"ROSE WEASLEY! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING YOU OVERGROWN TURNIP?" had been only one of the many expulsive yells Dominique had shrieked at her. Lucy just gave Rose an "I told you so look," and Molly tried to help out by scrubbing at the sink. In the end, it took Dominique a trip to Diagon Alley to purchase _Mrs Gowers Magical Mess Remover_ to get out the black stains.

Dominique and Lucy were also none too pleased when Rose wouldn't give them the exact reason she needed to dye some of her only clothes an unholy black.

Rose was rather tight-lipped about the whole mission and she was making sure Molly was too. Rose gave Dominique and Lucy the bare minimum (she was helping a friend find someone in London, and no she was doing it and no she wouldn't answer any more questions) and even though it didn't appease them they had to accept it, for Rose could be very stubborn. The only thing she worried about was that Molly wasn't always the best at keeping her mouth shut but there was nothing she could change about that since Molly saw everything happen real-time.

She wrapped a dark brown scarf of Lucy's around her head and hair. Under no circumstances was the scarf to be ripped, torn, discoloured, mutilated, spotted, bloodied, lost, or anything else. It wasn't black, but it covered Rose's obtrusive hair colour in the case that she was parted from the invisibility cloak. Since she was fairly tan from the summer, she didn't worry too much about her skin shining blatantly in the dark. The only footwear she had was her sandals that were luckily dark brown.

In the end on Monday evening before her departure she had on black socks, brown sandals, a black long sleeve shirt, black trousers, and a brown scarf. She was a walking nightmare to people who cared about fashion, but Rose was never really one for fashion and so didn't mind. Besides, it would be nighttime and she wouldn't run into anyone. Dominique almost had a heart attack when she saw Rose in her get-up, refusing to let her leave the apartment dressed like that. Molly just frowned and Lucy raised her eyebrows, questions burning on her tongue.

All dressed, she tied the invisibility cloak to her belt loop so she wouldn't forget it. Her wand was duct taped securely to her right arm, so she could grab it easily with her left when it was needed. Having nothing left to do but wait, she picked up a magazine from the table and started flipping through it. She was too nervous to sleep or read so she just looked at all the pictures in the magazine. She got about halfway through before she finally read the title. _Apparation Worthy Endeavors_ it was called and it had the most amazing photos in it. Rose was able to lose herself in the wildlife and landscape pictures, envisioning herself off in them again. She was able to forget everything for the moment.

But before she knew it, it was one o' clock in the morning. She stood up on protesting legs, suddenly feeling very tired.

_I could stay home, just do this tomorrow night._

_Good idea, _said Marta promptly.

There was a sigh from Greg. Y_ou can't keep making excuses, just go and end this tonight. _

She needed to go; she wanted desperately to end the contract and have some semblance of normal in her life. Her hair was all wrapped up; she was decked out in her black; invisibility cloak was on her person; wand taped securely to her arm. . . she was ready. She really had no more excuses. She left.

* * *

><p>The trouble with apparating blind was that she really didn't know where she would land when she arrived. Rose had picked what she thought to be an inconspicuous alley about two blocks from the warehouses and it was an extremely unlucky chance that she apparated to the exact spot where a large dumpster lie. She promptly lost her footing and fell over fell over in the rubbish.<p>

A dog started barking and she heard voices and footsteps in the distance start towards her. It was so dark that she couldn't even see what she was laying on, but by the rank smells emanating from below her she could only guess. Her heart beat picked up as she laid, frozen, listening to the sounds around her. She struggled to control her breathing – but at the same time not breathe in because she felt like gagging. She couldn't pick herself up yet because it would make too much noise as the voices were getting closer. Her heartbeat wouldn't stop racing. _What if she was found?_

"- think it was farther away. . ." a gruff voice said.

The reply was a nervous sounding voice. "It was a large crack right? Like an apparating crack? Or would you say just a cat knocking something over? What if it's a werewolf or some other. . . _animal_. . . they keep at the Hatch? Unless you were bullshitting me about everything?"

"It's not a full moon dummy, stop bein' chicken about everything. We're patrolling together for the next two weeks, keep your wits with ya. I don't want to have another Muggle doofus partner like Frog was."

"I. . . I. . . feel like I should take offense to people calling me a Muggle."

"Just git used to it," the voice grunted. "You're one."

A bright wand light and a flashlight beam peeked into the dumpster and Rose saw two faces peer down. One of the men was older with a wide face and a handlebar mustache while the other was considerably younger with large front teeth. Neither were Canwood.

_They can't see me, they can't see me, breathe slower, calm down, I'm invisible, please please don't let them see me. . ._ Rose repeated in her head.

"This place reeks. Don't know when they last cleaned out the rubbish. The whole alley is a mess. I'll have to tell the Boss. We don't need some annoying muggle officials snooping around here."

"I thought the Boss didn't want the. . . err. . . petty stuff being brought to him anymore."

There was the sound of a smack and then an "OW!"

"Petty! We's got to watch out about people askin' too many questions around here. Already have that one pesky Auror snooping around, we don't need more."

The man started coughing and he pounded on his chest a few times. He leant back and hocked a loogie into the dumpster. Rose watched - almost in slow motion - as it came closer and closer. . . but no, it landed beside her head and not on her. Luckily the man coughed a few more times as Rose gagged, throwing up in her mouth a little.

_Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting. . . FUCKINGHELL. . ._

"Auror. . . that's like police, right? Right?"

"You don't learn quick, do ya?"

The nervous man just sniffed loudly instead of replying back. There was a bang from farther down the alley and the lights left the dumpster. Rose almost – but really didn't because it stunk too bad – breathed a sigh of relief. Finally she heard the footsteps walk past and go farther down the alley. She heard a large bang of metal and a yell of, "_crazy old lady, how's life in your hole!_" Then a few laughs.

The dog's barking slowly died down and there was finally silence in the alley. Rose slowly sat up and peeked over the edge of the dumpster. No one was there. She took off the invisibility cloak and shook it roughly out; she didn't want to wreck it or have James coming after her. After she got out, she went to the wall and put her hands on her knees, spitting the taste of vomit and rubbish from her mouth. Just thinking about it made her start gagging again, but she didn't throw up. Once she felt a little better she put her invisibility cloak back on and checked her feet. She was way too tall for it and bent down so her feet wouldn't be showing.

As she started walking to the end of the alley, she was very careful where she placed her feet on the ground. The alley seemed to be full of noise-makers; rubbish and sticks and gravel. She got to the end of the alley and peeked out onto the street. It was very dark out, and there were no streetlights anywhere. The moon illuminated the buildings just a tiny bit, but it was only a sliver of its full potential and it wasn't very adequate light.

Luckily enough, Rose had a peaceful walk to where the warehouses were. There were no people around at all that she could see or hear. There weren't even any animals in sight. Everything seemed strangely quiet and for some reason she could smell smoke in the air, though couldn't discern where it was coming from.

Finally she arrived at her destination. She squinted at the large buildings before her. They looked like they had seen better days for they were looking derelict. But there they were: four large warehouses. They all had windows galore on them - some were busted and others were blacked out. At least five of them Rose could discern a faint glow behind the attempt to blot out the light, and they were all off the main floor. Rose stood staring at the four warehouses, trying to decide which one to go into, but each one looking less inviting than the next.

_Get a move on, Canwood is waiting_, Greg said. _You'll find him if you go snooping around. _

That thought didn't appeal to Rose. Everything seemed so. . . dark, and even scary, she was loathe to admit. Maybe her plan wasn't such a great idea.

_Come back in the day if you're so interested to explore them. And bring someone with you_, was Marta's advice.

Rose peeked at the bracelet on her wrist. She couldn't afford to be scared. Whatever was out there, well she could face it.

She picked the one closest to the river Thames; the farthest to the right. She could just make out the water glittering in the distance.

Still watching her ground, she slunk forward and reached the side. She followed the wall around to the left, tracing it with her hand and stepping though the scraggy weeds until she finally found the door.

_This is easy, what was I worried about_! she thought. _Fucking hell! I'm going to jinx it now_.

And right she did. The door opened with a squeak and two people fell out in front of her, falling over themselves and laughing hysterically.

"_Sooooooooo_ rad-iculious!" There was more laughing and the guy continued, "didja see his bunny! With the five ears and one big eye! It was turning blue and brown and blue and blue and blue and blue, blue. Haawwwww!"

"Heeee. . . hee. . . haeeewww. . ." the other person snorted or sneezed or said. Rose couldn't even tell. One of them tripped and fell on his face about five feet from Rose.

"Mate-o, how're we getting home from here here here here. Home! Come to us_! Hoooommee_! Look! A brontosaurus!"

The reply was more hee's and haww's and the guy ran with his arms stretched out wide to the middle of the road with the other one trailing as he ran backwards.

Rose was a bit disturbed, and watched in morbid fascination at the two for a few moments. Their behaviour was utterly bizarre as they laid on the road and rolled around, still laughing. She turned her attention back to the warehouse when the boys' rolling slowed down and they quieted down.

The wooden door was still slightly ajar but she couldn't see anything inside: only more darkness. She pushed against the door from the side and it slowly creaked open. There were no sounds from inside the building and so Rose hesitantly took a step forward onto the wood panels. They creaked loudly under her foot and she rested there, with one foot inside the building and one out, listening again – all her senses alert in case someone heard and came running.

_Leave_, whispered Marta.

_Prove yourself. If you can't do this, you won't be able to do anything else_, counteracted Greg.

She took another step inside. The floor didn't creak, but it was more of a low sounding groan that came up from it. There were stairs going up to her left but when she tuned in her hearing to above her; she heard some footsteps walking around on the top floor. Eventually she would make her way up there, but she was going to check the main floor first to see if anything was there.

Rose continued walking forwards in the dark. The floor seemed to be very empty; even though she couldn't see very well; there was no furniture or anything in sight. She continued to walk in the middle of the floor, stepping down carefully with her feet, but still unable to stop the floor from moaning and groaning underneath her. She really hoped she would find something on the floor that would direct her to Canwood. She wouldn't say no to a map where X marked Canwood. If this floor was completely empty, Rose wasn't sure if she should check a different warehouse or venture upstairs. Now that she was _inside_ the headquarters, she was a little more scared of running into someone.

If she wasn't mistaken, the floor seemed to be slanted downwards and it almost seemed gushy under her feet, but the little amount of light coming into the window didn't answer her question of why it would be. She could perhaps make out some spots that were darker on the floor, but she didn't think anything of it, because the floor was a dark colour to begin with.

_Rose, there is nothing here, turn around_, Marta said.

_We haven't even reached the other side_, Rose said back absentmindedly.

Perhaps there would be something along the walls?

The warehouse seemed bigger on the inside than the outside for the walk across was taking longer than she thought, she didn't even think she was at the middle yet.

And either her hearing was getting better, or the sounds from the floor above were getting louder. Though they were muffled, she could distinguish a few different voices speaking.

_You should shout or make noise to get everyone running down here,_ Greg said. _You have the invisibility cloak. It would be a chance to see who is upstairs._

_Absolutely not! That's irresponsible and dangerous and you could -_

Marta's voice was drowned out by a large groan from the floor - the loudest sound yet. If she wasn't mistaken, Rose would say the floor was. . . sinking. Sudden realization struck her and she turned quickly, preparing to jump away, but the floor collapsed before she could move. The wood splintered, crunched, and cracked under her. She found herself falling, arms flying around in the air as she tried to grab onto something besides the falling debris around her. Her mind was working frantically; screaming didn't even register as an option.

She landed with a large smack on the ground, pain ripping up her leg as she felt something drive into it.

_DON'T SAY ANYTHING_, her instincts yelled, and she didn't. She huddled into herself, biting her tongue to stem noise, tears, and cries of pain. She must have hit her head too, for she was seeing stars; her vision was all fuzzy with white dots dancing in her eyes. She managed to sit half up and saw a chunk of rotted wood stuck in her calf with blood oozing freely out. Her nails were cutting into her palm as she tried to keep herself quiet. Her calf felt like it was on fire.

One part of her mind remained cool and collected. She dimly noted that footsteps rushed down the stairs and she managed to pull the invisibility cloak over her from where it had fallen off. The most dangerous part was still coming. Her nails dug deeper into her palm.

"Stop! Don't walk any farther – the floor is all rotted," a voice commanded.

"Shit, what the hell happened!" a different voice said.

"The floor collapsed dummy, I's been sayin' it for the past few weeks, someone needed to - OUCH!" There was a thumping sound.

"Shut up! Shut up! We know what you've been saying. How the hell did it happen though? Those two boys, they left didn't they? I heard the door open."

"Yo! Is anybody down there?"

The people went silent for a moment. There was a new sensation Rose was feeling in the hole besides the pain in her body; wetness. The ground was very damp. She pushed on the ground with her hand and water from the Thames slowly engulfed it. The ground was supersaturated and it was leaking into the hole.

"You don' think it was anyone else who was spiffed? Like Ratgar or Flamesy? They probably don' know as well as we about them bottom floors in all them buildin's."

A very faint light appeared over the hole, illuminating the upper area of Rose's surroundings slightly. Instead of investigating after she got a peek around her she curled up more, tucking her head into her arms. It was a large hole, perhaps five metres deep and it was fairly round. The sides of the hole were smooth other than the odd roots or rocks sticking out.

"Shit, that looks deeper than I thought. I can't see any farther down. Jimmy, you're taller than me. How far can you see?"

"Can't see the bottom either. Who wants to get levitated over?"

"I think Anderson wants to."

"Hell no I don'!"

"Suck it up Anderson. _Levicorpus_!"

Admist swearing, a figure was raised by his ankle and brought over to the hole. Rose could just make out the body above her when she peeked upwards. Thankfully he wasn't dropped in.

"Holy hell! This ain' just no rotten floorboards! This is a big ol' sinkhole. No wonder the floor was so rotted! Told you all that being by the Thames was bad luck! Told you all that -"

"Oi! Shut up! Is anyone down there?"

"Nope ain't a person in sight, just a big ol' hole in the middle o' the floor."

"Ah whatever. Let's just get back up. We're still supposed to be waiting for the signal! Fires should be contained quick enough."

There was a thump as Anderson was dropped and they all headed upstairs, the faint light slowly leaving Rose.

It was dark again in the hole, and quiet. Rose was feeling very wet now, there must have been a few centimetres of water in the hole. She was scared, and cold. . .

_Rose, get up_, a soothing voice said.

_Why is life so hard for me?_

_Rose, get up now_, the voice repeated.

_I don't want to. ._ .

But she sat up slowly, letting the invisibility cloak fall off her into the water. She felt as if she was separate from her body, and she felt utterly alone. A few tears trickled down her face before she wiped them away. She carefully looked at her calf, fearing the worst. She knew she should be more worried about it but she didn't really care at the moment. Shakily she stood up, putting almost no weight on her bad leg.

_Your wand_, the voice encouraged.

The wand was still duct taped onto her arm and she pulled it out and lit it, quite thankful to have it with her in this crisis. The light offered some comfort.

Her head was spinning as she stood there. She reached out her hands and she could just touch both sides of the hole. As she took a step, the water splashed under her. The right side of her body was drenched and she started to shiver.

Rose began to get worried about her leg as it was still bleeding down her leg into the water. She didn't know how much blood she had lost but she was sure she needed medical attention right away. The only thing she really knew about embedded objects was that they should not be taken out unless by a doctor, or Healer. The only thing she could do was wrap it and try to hold it in place to prevent more blood loss.

Lucy was going to kill her.

She unwrapped the scarf from her head and wrapped it around and around her calf, tying it was it a knot afterwards. She didn't really have anything else to make a tourniquet around the upper part of her leg except perhaps the duct tape on her arm, but the thought of ripping it off was more than she could bare at the moment so she left it, hoping she wouldn't bleed to death before she got help. Her leg hurt so much, but she couldn't afford to waste time pitying herself. She needed to get out before she became too weak. Yet she didn't want to climb out. It would be the first time she climbed since the accident that caused her return to London. It was much too soon for that.

Her other options were limited though. Rose didn't think she could apparate, not with her current mental state. She felt she would most likely splinch herself and not to mention the warehouse probably had some sort of anti-apparation wards, or apparition detection wards. If she tried apparating from the hole and wasn't able to get out. There would be no way she would escape unnoticed a second time. Other than climbing, her best bet would be to levitate herself, and then try apparating outside the warehouses, or back in the alley.

_Was_ it possible to levitate herself out?

With whisperings of 'be careful' in her mind, she cast _wingardium leviosa_ on herself. She slowly rose in the air, but it was very wobbly. She got a few feet up when her spell gave out and she crashed back down. Her leg gave out under her and she fell down in the water with a splash. She rolled ninety degrees to lie on her back, breathing heavily as she struggled to not cry out.

It was a few more minutes before she stood up again. She had to get out and the only way she could think of was to climb out, the muggle way. Just how she used to.

Rose thought back to all the mountains she had climbed when she traveled. What was the difference between rock and roots, open air and a pit? The walls around her were almost completely vertical, but doable, totally doable. Rose had an iron will when she needed it and she started preparing herself, stretching out her hands and arms. Mentally she focused on what was at hand and to not let her mind drift. The throbbing in her calf helped her keep her thoughts to the present. She readjusted the invisibility cloak so it hung loosely around her; she didn't need it impeding her as she climbed.

As soon as she stuck her foot in a small groove on the wall, adrenaline kicked in. She hoisted herself up, reaching above her for a large root to grab.

It was tricky and Rose was out of shape from her months of sedentary activity in England. She also had limited ability with her left leg, but somehow she was able to work through the pain and climb steadily upwards.

About ten minutes later, Rose reached the surface. She was breathing hard, her left leg was shaking badly and almost wouldn't support her weight anymore, but she was _so_ close to being out. This was going to be the hardest part now; trying to get herself on top of the broken floorboards without falling back in. There were no more handles. She swung her right leg over, and she cried out wordlessly as her weight was briefly on her bad leg before she transferred her weight to her arms. She used her leg as a hook on the floor, trying to find purchase on some groove. Her foot found a small knot in the wood and then she lifted herself. Her body weight was completely on one arm as she slowly inched her body backwards, her head and arms being the last to leave the blasted pit.

She was sweating hard as she turned the light off in her wand and was encompassed in the darkness again. She was exhausted, cold, wet, and hurt. But she made it. Regardless of the dark thoughts she had been having while living with Danny, she could climb still. She now knew she wouldn't stop halfway up and be scared and shaking. Memories of an injury and a death wouldn't hold her back.

Rose needed to leave quickly in case someone had heard her climbing.

She made a half-hearted attempt to put the invisibility cloak on as she crawled over the rotten floor to the door, but it kept falling off so she left it off. She was too exhausted to worry.

When Rose got to the door, she used it to stand up and readjusted the cloak. Not even being careful, she opened the door and stepped out.

She wasn't sure how she made it back to the alley, it was almost as if she closed her eyes and when they were open again she was there. She again encountered nobody on the way. There was almost no light guiding her this time; the moon was covered by some very grey clouds that Rose had a funny feeling were smoke when she looked up at the sky.

Rose started concentrating on apparition. Even now, she was in no state to apparate. Shivers wracked her body and she was unbelievably tired, but she didn't know how else to get home. She concentrated for what she thought to be about ten minutes - unless she fell asleep for a few moments leaning against the wall - before she apparated straight into the living room of her flat. She knocked on Lucy's door without hesitation, almost completely done for. Lucy immediately assessed the situation and started working on her leg, cutting off Rose's pant leg about mid thigh. Lucy didn't even say anything about the scarf that was bloodied.

It wasn't long before Dominique was awake to find a Blood-Replenishing Potion, and Molly to go find dry warm clothes for her and get blankets.

No longer in pain and _finally_ warm, she drank the potion. She didn't even notice the bitter taste before she was out cold on the couch. She didn't notice her cousins eyeing her in concern and talking quietly amongst themselves. She didn't notice the scared look in Molly's eyes as she covered Rose up with a few more blankets, tucking her in tight. She didn't notice anything as she curled up into a dreamless sleep.

x-x-x-x-x


	10. Cheap coffee and black eyes

August 26, 2026

* * *

><p>Two days later Rose was back out in London. It took a hell of a time trying to convince her cousins she was well enough to head out since they could clearly tell she wasn't. Even sitting on a bench now, she felt tired still. She had lost a lot of blood and the effects were still lingering, but she wasn't letting a disastrous first attempt, cousins, or her tiredness keep her from continuing the search. Canwood's biography was in her lap and she was looking it over.<p>

_Randy Canwood_

_Age: 43_

_Birthday: October 1, 1985_

_Height: 5' 6"_

_Weight: 249 lbs_

_Physical Features: Bald, large stature, has a large iguana tattoo on his neck, long nose that has been broken multiple times, dark brown eyes, missing two fingers from his right hand, arms and hands are scarred._

_Maritial Status: Single, has off and on girlfriend (name unknown) but she has been seen and identified as a woman with dirty blonde hair and a short stature_

_Family: 0- 5 children (gender and age unknown). Possibly has more, or less. Nothing confirmed. Multiple witnesses have identified different things. Doesn't live with them and has next to no contact with them, so nothing is for certain._

Rose looked up as four people passed her, observing that three were children and they were with their father who had a lot of brown hair and no large tattoo on his neck. She looked back down to where she left off reading.

_Education: Dropped out of Hogwarts after 4__th__ year _

_Jobs/Profession: worked as a security guard for a muggle bank firm immediately after his departure from Hogwarts, got involved with gang-related wizards and worked as a guard in three different countries across Europe for different groups. He is currently employed with the Snakebitten gang in London._

_Home address: Not known, possibly lives and sleeps in the warehouses (by the Thames on Beacon Rd.) or an unknown building with members of the Snakebitten group. Most of his time is spent at the warehouses._

_Previous address: Grew up at 95495 43__rd__ Street in Brighton, no other addresses confirmed._

_Been spotted at (more than once ): (MUGGLE - in London) Warehouses on Beacon Rd, Coffee for Kooks on Colyers, Vanelinski's Strip Mall on Perry Hill, Luminess Bank on Hillingdon St, Micheals All You Can Eat and it's a Sports Bar too on Flambamty Rd. (WIZARDING - in London) Knockturn Alley, Gringotts in Diagon Alley, the Leaky Faucet, the Pemty Tavern, Cornworlds Beer Cave._

Rose stopped reading and set her information down on her lap. There were only so many times she could look at the paper, only so many times she could read it. Re-reading wouldn't help her uncover anything she hadn't already found. She knew what Canwood looked like from his picture and she knew the places he was most likely to be around in London. However, it was way different to have the facts in front of her, and read them, than it was to actually go out to these places and find him.

She decided to try the café _Coffee for Kooks_ first. There was no real reason, just that it was in a pretty public place and as it was a coffee shop Rose figured that it would be the safest place to start. She had managed to transfigure Canwood's information into a random muggle magazine so the information was hidden and only she could see it.

She really hoped Canwood would walk out of the café. There was so much _sitting_ and staring involved with this new plan. She was an action person and she hated waiting around. Right now when she was feeling weak, it was fine. But even so she already wanted to be up and moving. Her nerves were a bit on the fritz.

Rose really wanted to end the contract within the first month, hell, if she could find him today that would be perfect, but realistically it probably wouldn't happen. Her goal was to be finished well before the 4 month mark and out of London as soon as she collected the money. She was secretly hoping that Canwood would have come out within ten minutes of sitting and waiting, and the whole nightmare would be over before it really started, but five hours later, there was still no sign of him.

Someone bald walked by her and Rose dropped her papers onto her lap in nervousness and zoned onto his face - but it wasn't Canwood, _again_.

_Coffee for Kooks_ was busier than she previously expected and her eyes were constantly looking at the entrance. It catered a crowd that she knew some people would turn their noses up at. She was glad that she wore _her_ clothes today, and not Molly's or Dominique's. Some of Lucy's would have been fine, but Lucy wasn't giving Rose free range in her closet anymore. Rose's clothes were well worn and fairly rugged so she didn't exactly stick out of the crowd here, but she knew if anyone were to pay close attention to her they would realize she was a bit out of place, looking like she came back from a wilderness expedition rather than dressed for day to day activities.

Five more people passed in front of her; none of them Canwood. The little boy had a very loud voice.

". . . but Mama, Daddy said I _could_. . ."

Rose groaned, fiddled with her bracelet, and leaned back against the bench.

_There are so many people in the world,_ Rose thought, not for the first time. She felt she had a right to say that. How many countless people had she met travelling, how many more faces had she seen. Just from this morning she thought she had seen a few hundred people.

A small crowd of people, none of who she recognized walked by her. _There has to be a better way to find this stupid guy. Why can't he just come walking in front of me?_

If only it were that simple.

_Go ask for help, _Marta inputted.

_You have to go searching. You go to him, don't let him come to you, _Greg insisted.

Rose sighed and murmured to her voices, "easy for you to say, you're stuck in my mind. . ."

She flipped over the page of her 'magazine,' and looked down to pretend to read again as she waited for more people to exit the coffee shop or walk by.

_Randy Canwood_

_Age: 43_

_Birthday: October 1, 1985_

_Height: 5' 6"_

_Weight: 212 lbs_

Rose looked up briefly at the person passing and back down. It was a woman.

_Randy Canwood_

_Age: 43_

A crowd of people walked by, but again, no Canwood. When she had first arrived in the morning, she had braved the inside and bought a coffee. She had stayed inside for about an hour before she left the café to sit outside and have more freedom as it was quite stuffy in there. It was awkward sitting inside for her. Not too many people hung around to sit for hours and there weren't many tables and chairs for customers. When she left, she had chosen the bench across from the café so she could keep a close eye on the crowds, without being too obvious.

It was getting boring sitting outside though, after five hours. She wanted to go into the store again, but she wasn't sure if that would be suspicious or not. She also only had two pounds - enough for just one coffee and no lunch.

How long was too long to wait for someone to show up? Rose didn't even know how often Canwood stopped at this place. What if he only visited twice a month, or only in the evenings, or only the third Tuesday of every month? Rose wanted to go inside and ask one of the baristas if he came in regularly, but she didn't know if that would be weird. Would one of the workers even respond? Or would they report back to him if they were decent friends? Or if he was a regular? What if the baristas thought she was crazy and they had no clue what she was talking about? There were too many variables, and Rose just didn't know how to play the game.

_My arse is getting sore_, Rose thought, and then stood up and stretched.

_This requires patience, you can't give up so quick on a location after only a few hours_, Marta said.

_A few hours! Pfff. I can't hang around here any longer. This is ridiculous! I've been here five hours, FIVE! I can't believe I've been here that long. If he hasn't shown up yet, he's not going to_, reasoned Rose.

_It's barely lunchtime and you've only been here since seven. You haven't even waited a full day to see, _she responded back.

_As I said before, you need to find him, not let him come to you, _Greg said impatiently. _You could be waiting here for hours - days even before this guy comes. . . Maybe he doesn't even use the front entrance? You have other locations you can check out too; this isn't the sole place you should focus on._

"Gah!" exclaimed Rose. _I don't know what I'm going to do, but I need to leave this bench. Someone might get suspicious if I haven't moved since the morning and they've walked by a few times. All the faces are beginning to blur together anyways, I probably wouldn't even recognize him if he walked by._

Perhaps it was high time for that cheap coffee then. She could leave afterwards and go find lunch at the flat. She was trying to be careful about how she was spending her money; her pockets weren't very deep at all, and she absolutely refused to take money from her cousins. She would have to scout out a different place in the afternoon; it was too tempting to buy food and drinks when across from a café.

She picked up the 'magazine' and put it in her backpack. Inside was also the invisibility cloak, an extra pair of socks, a pair of sunglasses, and a water bottle. She slung her bag on her back.

Focused on the café, she took one step forward and felt someone run into her. The force she was hit at was surprising considering the persons small size. The girl fell into Rose and Rose almost fell down before she took a step back to steady herself. With slight fumbling around as the girl tried to get her footing, she finally pushed roughly off and stood back a few steps.

"I'm so sorry, are you alright?" Rose asked, straightening out her shirt sleeves. She didn't like it when the bracelet was exposed to the air.

All Rose could see when she looked down was black hair. The girl had to be at least a foot shorter than her, perhaps more. There was no response from the girl as she smoothed out her hair while looking at the ground. Then the girl's face turned towards Rose and she realized she knew whose face it was. Not _knew_ knew, but she recognized it for being one of the triplets that she saw in in the lobby about a week ago while she was leaving and they were entering.

Rose and the girl looked at each other for a moment; Rose in shock, the other in smugness. Then the girls face turned into a sneer. Rose unintentionally zeroed in on the girls dark eyes, so dark they were almost black. Rose could barely distinguish the pupils. Those black eyes were very creepy; they looked bottomless.

"Fancy seeing you on this side of London," the girl said slyly. "You've certainly. . . stepped out of your _safe_ territory."

Rose shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.

"I – ah – don't think it's any of your business where I go in London. I certainly don't know you well enough for you to say that to me."

The other girl's mouth slowly spread into a toothy smile. "Well I certainly know who you are, Rose Weasley. Watch your back in these streets; you never know who is watching, who is waiting, and who has a knife and is about to slit your throat, _witch_ or not."

_Don't show fear and stay still!_ Greg whispered to her as Rose was thinking about bolting.

She didn't bolt. Nonetheless Rose couldn't help her eyes widen at that statement. She never would have expected this tiny girl to say something like that. She didn't even know her! Was it a threat? A warning?

Without another word, the girl glided past and left Rose staring in her wake.

A pigeon squawking prompted Rose to turn away and focus back to her previous thoughts, but there was a dark current in them now. She looked around her a few times, suddenly paranoid that someone was there. She never previously paid attention to the man huddled against the wall, could he be dangerous? The two kids running around a tree while they were waiting for their mum to stop talking with someone, was it someone using polyjuice potion? She supposed everyone could be dangerous in their own way; but she really needed to calm down. It was the middle of the day; there were kids out playing, people working, and couples strolling; nothing to get freaked out about. This wasn't the middle of the night and she wasn't stalking around some warehouse where she didn't belong. Rose wasn't scared before the girl showed up, so she should have no reason to now. Really, no reason.

_A coffee, I really need one now . . . And then I'm out of here._

Rose felt her pocket, to reassure her of which pocket her money was in before she entered the store. "What the. . ." she said, surprised that she felt nothing. She stuck her hand in her pocket to double-check, but it was empty. Maybe it _was_ the other pocket. She checked, but there was no money in it either. She had already bought a coffee today, she knew she had change! She _specifically_ remembered putting her money in her right pocket. Rose felt the rest of her pockets though, because she _knew_ she had money with her; it had to be somewhere. She even looked in her backpack. She was still coming up with nothing. She flopped on the bench as she searched every nook and cranny again.

A sudden realization made her jump up and swear, it was only thoughts . . . _but_ _what – else – could – it – be!_ . . . When the black-haired triplet ran into her, Rose remembered how it took longer than necessary for them to separate. Following that line of thought. . . she must have been pickpocketed!

As soon as she thought that, Rose felt all her pockets again. There was no way the girl could have gotten into her pocket. Sure, her jeans were loose on her, but she should have _felt_ it!

Rose groaned, frustrated when no money showed up again. That girl must have been very sneaky. Not that Rose really noticed when the girl had collided with her, but somewhere as she was picking herself up, she must have softly snuck a hand in and stole her money. But - _the chances_! She rechecked everything again, refusing to believe her money was stolen. How on Earth could it have been! It was only two pounds! _Why? _With nothing coming up, she finally accepted the fact of it: one of the triplets stole her money.

Greg interrupted her gloomy musings: _You better go after her before she gets too far away, get your money back and show her that you're no one to be trifled with!_

Of course Marta had to have her input that was completely opposite: s_he's dangerous, don't go near her._

_I just want coffee, _Rose said to them. _Coffee! _

Indecision plagued her for a moment. She walked ten metres in the direction the thief went, but there was no sign of her. _I have one person to find, I don't want to add another. Besides it was only two pounds. They will be coming over in a few weeks anyways and I can worry about it then. _

There was nothing left for her to do in the area. She would have to find coffee elsewhere, with lunch. It was a good time for a break and then she'd get back at it, perhaps somewhere else. She walked deep into the alley and checking to make sure the coast was clear she apparated away.

Unbeknownst to her, precisely three minutes after she was gone, Randy Canwood walked out of Coffee for Kooks carrying a bag of donuts and four coffees.

* * *

><p>Molly was alone in the kitchen sitting at the table with her head in her hands when Rose returned. All traces of asking Molly about the triplets left when she noticed Molly was looking paler than usual.<p>

"Hey, you okay?" Rose asked softly, stepping lightly into the kitchen in case Molly was sleeping.

Molly nodded into her hands. "Yeah I just have a headache. . . and I'm trying to think. Combination isn't work well."

"Alright, I'll be quiet," Rose said as she opened the fridge. "Are you working today?"

Molly lifted her head to look at Rose. "Yeah, I was at the Department of Mysteries this morning and probably going back there again in a bit."

"Seriously? That's very neat. What's it like there?"

Molly laughed under her breath. "Honestly? Very mysterious. And the lighting isn't good. We're only concentrated in one area and aren't allowed to wander around. They have some dangerous curses locked up that we're studying for the week. And then I'm back at Mungo's."

"Well, that part doesn't sound fun," said Rose when she sat down across from Molly.

"Yeah, but it's interesting. It's just that the atmosphere is so _hush hush_, and the air is. . . funny. I don't know how to describe it. No one feels healthy after we leave; everyone is quiet and very subdued. We are told it's the effects of the curses we are looking at. Apparently the longer we're exposed to them, the more risk we have of catching the curse and we're exposed to them for a few hours at a time. But we're protected against them," she said when Rose's eyebrows went sky-high, "we wear special clothes and perform lots of spells, before and after. I also have a potion I have to drink in the evenings."

"I'd hope!"

"Yes, it's important though, especially as a curses Healer. On a relatively same note, Rose, would you please let me look at your bracelet. The more I study curses, the better I am at identifying its properties. I might be able to tell you some of the properties of it if the . . er . . _other people_ left something out. Or maybe I can do something to help! I just need ten minutes."

Rose protectively put her arm with the bracelet under the table and out of sight. Like hell she was going to let Molly look at it. "Molly I can't. This thing isn't normal, and I just know something bad will happen if anybody tries to spell it. I'll just find this guy, and it'll be good. Everything will be back to normal then I'll be out of your guys' hair –"

"What? Where are you going to go?" interrupted Molly.

"Er. . . well, haven't thought that far ahead yet; just somewhere away from London. After I take this guy to the headquarters I'll have enough money to go."

"Don't leave again. . . everyone misses you and you're gone so long with barely any contact."

"I just. . . I don't know how to explain it. Besides my family, I have no special ties to England. There's just – just bad memories. . . some people that just make staying hard. I feel – restless, I guess. Especially now. . ."

Molly sighed and put her head in her hands again, rubbing her temples. "_Still_. . . well I'm too exhausted to argue with you now. Next week I will be back to my old self."

"You can try Molly!"

Molly stood up abruptly. "Be prepared then because I will! I better be off. Don't go to the warehouses again without someone to watch your back, okay?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Sure. . ."

"I'm serious. I will go to your mum and spill."

Rose hit her hand against her table in frustration. "Molly, I won't!" Of all her cousins, Molly was the only one she knew who would go to parents if she were worried about her well-being when specifically told not to. Why oh why did it have to be Molly who was home the day she got the letters!

As Molly grabbed a cup from the cupboard, she turned to Rose with a thoughtful look on her face.

"You know. . . I know someone who might be able to give you advice on tracking and finding people who don't want to be found. . ."

"Really. . .?" Rose said slowly, unsure of what to make of the expression decorating Molly's face.

"Yes. I'm sure he would be able to advise you and give you some pointers on this."

Rose thought about if for a moment, internally debating it. It was just too dangerous, and she didn't need anyone prying into her life and asking questions she didn't want to answer.

"Well, no. It's okay. Thanks though. I'll figure this out myself, I've figured everything else out myself."

Molly slammed the cup down on the counter. "Rose stop being so damn independent! It's okay to have help, it's okay to _ask_ for help! You're being ridiculously obstinate. Just ask Scorpius for advice, you don't have to involve him in it, it's just advice!"

Was it getting hot in the room? Rose felt warm all of a sudden. "Malfoy," she said flatly. "_Really_?"

"Oh, bloody hell! I didn't quite mean to say his name. But Rose, seriously. This is dangerous what you're doing! You came home the other night half-dead; you lost so much blood! You're lucky you didn't get hypothermia or pneumonia or something else with the condition you were in. What if we weren't home? What if you didn't make it back to us in time? You can't keep taking all these risks. We all care about you and this is scaring us! _Insanely_ scaring us! Can you imagine what Dom and Lucy feel like and they know nothing of what you're doing? You're getting involved in something so stupid and reckless and you need to get out of it. I don't know why you insist on continuing to do what these people say. . . But _please_, just ask Scorpius for advice. . . who knows – maybe he can help a _tiny_ bit.

"Hmmm. Well, he has _years and years_ of experience in the field, doesn't he? He's a _top_ expert, _high_ ranking Auror in the Auror Department? He's the best of the best, _isn't he_?" Rose shot back.

Molly sighed deeply and rubbed her temples again. "Alright no. I know he's practically new at it. _I know_. But it's better than nothing, and he's the only one I know _besides your dad or uncle_ that could possibly offer some guidance. He lives with Al, he's easy to access, we're all going to the Burrow in a few days. Really, stop being so stubborn, swallow your freakin' pride and just – _ask_!"

Rose stared angrily down at her almost untouched food. She didn't want to ask.

"Promise me, okay. Just really, really think about it."

Molly was staring and waiting. Rose avoided her gaze and looked at the wall. Why did family have to care so much? When Rose reluctantly nodded, Molly left. Rose slowly hit her head against the table, again and again.

She left not too soon after Molly, visiting a few of the other frequent visits of Canwood. But after sitting all morning with nothing to come of it, she didn't want to sit at one place again for hours to see if he showed up. There were so many places on the list! How was she possibly going to find Canwood if she was sitting and staring at just one place. She needed five of her to do it, maybe even ten! Could she clone herself? It wasn't likely.

Rose calmed herself. It was only her second time out in the first week. She knew chances of her finding him immediately were slim. She knew it, but she still hoped something would have worked out for her. Why couldn't anything be easy in her life? Where did she get all the rotten luck from?

She wasn't quite at the conclusion yet, but she knew she was going to have to go snoop around the warehouses again. Most likely without Molly's consent.

X-X-X-X-X


	11. A potions lab and a bunch of relatives

August 30, 2026

* * *

><p>Lucy paced around the kitchen table. She was not impressed. Dominique and Rose were obviously taking their sweet time just to annoy her. They could have been at the Burrow a half hour ago! Rose had been gone since who even knew when - <em>had she even slept in her bed in the past week?<em> and Dominique felt she had to finish all her potions before they went and so she was still up in her lab. Of all days to delay!

It was the family get-together and Lucy hadn't seen her parents in forever since her mum had gotten a transfer to Iran for the year. Lucy was always too busy with work and school to go properly visit. Perhaps her parents weren't even at the Burrow yet, but she wanted to get a move on things. She was ready!

Lucy had enchanted a letter and sent it up to Dominique to remind her that she needed to come down today. She sent it over half an hour ago and all the reply said was '_I'll be five minutes.'_ Obviously it had been more than five minutes!

Dominique's laboratory was on the roof of the apartment complex and because the staircase was directly outside their flat door, it was convenient for her to run up and down numerous times a day. There were super-sensory charms around the staircase that deterred anyone from going up, and the owner of the building 'conveniently' forgot he had a roof.

Dom had set up a well-ventilated potions house where she could brew without being disturbed. She also had built a small greenhouse beside it where she grew some of the more rare plants she needed. It was her sanctuary since she built it after Hogwarts when they all moved into the place. Dominique had been brewing like mad all week, trying to catch up in potions for relatives and friends before the school year started.

But Dominique was one thing. Lucy could understand why Dominique was running late. The thing was, she knew where Dom was and could go talk to her if need be. Rose on the other hand, well, it would not be wise to let Lucy get started on where the heck Rose was. She couldn't even say if Rose was in the country when she disappeared for hours at a time.

Lucy really didn't understand it. At all. When Rose first moved in, she seemed normal. She was reading textbooks like she enjoyed them, she spent a lot of time talking with Dominique, Lucy and Molly about everything – travels, Danny, what she did in the day – Rose was almost a different person now. Lucy didn't know how so much could change in a week. Lucy was hoping it was just some weird phase. . . and she would go back to being normal and carefree instead of quiet and secretive like she was now.

At first she thought Rose was trying to get a job, or doing something – perhaps illegal – to get money. But when Lucy asked if she needed money, Rose wouldn't take any; outright refused it actually! She said she was helping a friend find someone, yet when asked any other questions, they were deflected. She didn't think Rose would lie to her face, but Lucy wasn't dumb. Something else was going on.

She sighed loudly. _What was taking them so long!_ She walked another lap around the kitchen table, and another. She even went to the loo and brushed her straight brown hair again. She did a few more laps. She had a glass of milk. She changed her shirt. She did everything she could possibly do standing up except wash the dishes, because she really wasn't in the mood for _that_. Lucy finally gave up waiting and walked to the couch. She stared at it for a moment, internally debating whether she should sit down or not.

She knew that the moment she sat down, she would have to get up right away. That was just how it was. She would relax, get comfy and somehow she would have to get right back up for something.

But she was so bored!

_Eff it, sitting it is_, she thought. She picked up the only magazine on the table and started flipping through it. She sunk comfortable into the cushions, letting herself relax for a moment.

She was just getting started on an article on zip-lining in Indonesia, when a letter fluttered in front of her face.

_Luce, I__'M SORRRRYYYYY! But I just finished. Come help carry down bottles._

_Dom_

Lucy growled. "_Dominique Weasley_!" She knew it, damn it; she knew she shouldn't have sat down.

After a moment of huffing to herself on the couch, she got up and left the apartment, pulled down the staircase and went to the roof.

Dominique's lab was a well ventilated wooden building. Shelves covered the walls and they were filled with all sorts of potions, ingredients, and supplies. Dominique had set up her work place so she could brew up to five potions at once and being Dominique, everything was of course quite clean and organized.

When Lucy entered she saw a flustered Dominique rummaging around with her head under a counter-top and her arse in the air.

"Dom!" Lucy called.

_BANG_. Dominique lifted her head and hit the underside of where she was working.

"Ouch! You could have knocked to warn me!" she exclaimed as she stood up and rubbed her head. "I dropped the stopper behind here and I can't find it. But I swear I'm done everything!"

Lucy rolled her eyes and stated, "use your wand dummy."

Dominique looked sheepishly at her. "Right. . . I was rushing and trying to finish the last potion and it completely slipped my mind." She turned around and grabbed her wand from the counter behind her before casting a spell to retrieve the stopper.

She turned to Lucy. "Okay, this box has our supplies in it, if you want to take it down. I was going to make Rose her own personal one since she's been injured a lot lately. . . but that can wait." She picked up another box off the floor and set it on top. "This is for Albus and Scorpius, this for Roxanne and Fred. Umm, Lily said she was good, none of the adults wanted any potions, Lovely Louis won't pay because he's cheap, James, Victoire. . . well they only wanted specific ones and those are all in _this_ box. We can sort those when we get to the Burrow I guess. So! Start carrying things down."

Lucy raised her eyebrows. "Lovely Louis never wants potions from you because he knows you don't charge anyone else."

Dominique shrugged. "I had to live with him for seventeen years, I need some recompense!"

"You know Victoire always gives Louis some of hers."

"Well maybe Tory and Teddy won't be getting any potions this year then! Honestly, those two are too nice. And I'm surprised they can even find potions to give him, they usually lose everything they own."

Dominique stacked the boxes in Lucy's outstretched hands. "Give them a break Dom, they have four kids and both work part-time. Life is pretty insane for them."

"Tory's been that way her whole life. She was always the messy one! Now be careful walking down the steps, don't trip on anything!"

"I suppose," muttered Lucy as she walked to the stairs. "Hopefully Rose is here and we can _finally_ go."

"She's still gone. . . ? What the heck is she up to? Did she tell you where she was going?"

"Not a clue Dom, not a clue."

* * *

><p>There was no sign of Rose. Lucy resumed her pacing around the table after she set the boxes down. She refused to sit for the chance she would again have to immediately get up straightaway. Dominique scolded Lucy for not doing the dishes and then started washing them herself. At quarter to twelve, finally, the door opened and Rose came in rubbing her eyes and yawning. She pulled a black tuque off her head and her frizzy red hair seemed to spring up immediately and form a halo around her face as the loose pieces escaped from her ponytail. She pulled off her sandals and stood there for a moment, blinking rapidly.<p>

"You're still wearing those god-awful clothes!" exclaimed Dominique.

"Where were you!" Lucy said, shushing Dominique.

Rose shrugged and avoided their gazes. She slunk to her room, declining to answer the questions. _I'm protecting them, they can't know_, she told herself. She didn't like it. She knew they didn't like it either.

She also knew what she was wearing was stupid, but she didn't know what else to wear while she was out looking for Canwood. She had spent the night out sitting in a tree outside a tavern and was in her 'night gear' as she was dubbing it. She was no longer able to wear the brown scarf from Lucy and so went thrift shopping to buy a cheap black tuque to cover up most of her hair.

Rose actually meant to be back a few hours ago so Lucy and Dom wouldn't be suspicious, but she had fallen asleep in the tree without realizing it. She had only woken up about an hour ago, even with the sun up and shining. Unfortunately she couldn't apparate from a tree; she found the position too awkward, and her back hurt something awful. She had tried waiting until there were no people around to climb down, but grew impatient when the streets didn't clear and so she tried to pretend it was something completely normal as she descended. Nobody really noticed. . .

"Just give me ten minutes," Rose called out to the kitchen from her room. She heard Lucy groan loudly.

When Rose returned, Lucy was still pacing around the table as Dominique tapped her fingers on the table.

Dominique stared at Rose critically. "Better, but still not great. You really need some different clothes, you've been wearing the same thing all week."

"Can we finally go?" Lucy exclaimed, shushing Dominique again when she turned around and saw Rose. She walked to the fireplace and picked up the can of Floo powder.

"I'm apparating," stated Rose.

"_You're so difficult_," cried Lucy as she walked to the door and opened it quickly. "Hurry up then, we've got six flights of stairs to walk down, an alley to walk to, and then a kilometre to walk because we can't apparate _any closer_ to the Burrow." Lucy started walking down the hall and Dominqiue and Rose just heard her yell, "of course we can't take the easy way. That would be _too easy_!"

Dominique looked at Rose. "She's a tad grumpy in case you can't tell. I'll lock up behind you."

Rose took a deep breath, really wishing that today wasn't the day for the family get-together. She wasn't ready. . . but she had to suck it up; it was her family and even though she was tired, sore, and had a miserable week, she needed to go. She missed them.

* * *

><p>The walk to the Burrow went quicker than normal because Lucy kept up a quick pace, forcing Dominique and Rose to keep up or get yelled at. There were clouds far off in the distance behind them and Dominique kept looking back at them.<p>

"I really hope it doesn't rain," she murmured to Rose. Rose nodded absently, not really paying attention to Dominique. Her mind was suddenly caught up in some old memories. Walking in the long grass by her parent's home. . . her parent's voices on that day. . . it was summertime, right after Hogwarts, right when she was starting her new job -

_Rose walked forwards towards the gold edged doors, trying to convince herself it was what she wanted. It was what people did after they graduated from Hogwarts, right? They went to work, or school. It was completely normal. Completely. Why was she dreading going into the building so much? Why was her heart beating fast and why did she feel like throwing up? This was important, this was the first day of the rest of her life. She desperately hoped she didn't screw it up._

Rose focused on the present.

"Freaking Stilettos, my feet hurt already. This is normal pace for you, but the two of you seem to always forget that my legs are shorter!"

Rose smiled. "Are you a little out of shape Dom?"

"Oh shut up!"

After they walked over the hill, the Burrow was in sight. Dominique didn't complain about her feet anymore and started picked up her pace in excitement.

"I haven't seen Nana and Granddad in forever!" Dominique was saying. "Or my parents! Are your parents going to be there Lucy?"

"Yes! Mum is back, finally."

_She walked to the main desk and shyly told the lady her name. The fake smile immediately dropped from the lady's face and she seemed to almost glare at Rose. "Of course you're Rose Weasley." Rose stood there awkwardly as the lady gave her a once over and then sniffed the air pompously. "You're the one they practically gave the job to. I hope you enjoy your time here Poser, oops, I mean Rose. You can go to the glass doors at the end of the hallway; you will be instructed further there." _

_Oh the walk was so long. With a beating red face she walked to the end of the hallway. Why did everyone have glass offices? They all stared at her as she walked by. She could almost feel the derision rolling off all of their faces._

"Rose? Earth to Rose?"

"Oh sorry, I wasn't listening. What did you say?"

"Will your parents be there? And is Hugo going to be there?"

"I haven't talked to them in a while," Rose said shortly. "And I don't know about Hugo." She really had no clue, she wanted Hugo to be there because Hugo had this aura about him that was just happy and joyful and she loved him to bits. Last she heard though was that he was in Dublin doing an internship at a broom-making company. The last she had seen her parents was seriously four years ago. They had exchanged numerous letters, but Rose never told them she was in London and didn't go visit.

"_How was your first day of work sweetie?" her mum asked as Rose walked in the door. _

_She avoided her mum's eye. "It was alright. . . kind of boring I guess."_

"_That's just because it was your first day. I'm sure it will get better though. Carrie is a wonderful Head of Department though, isn't she? I was talking to her last week and she seemed to think you'd fit right in with them all. It's a smaller department for the Ministry, but still important."_

"_Yeah. . . Carrie's nice I guess."_

"_You seem a little tired, why don't you eat a quick supper and then go to bed. Now that you've got a full time job, you've got to be up in the mornings and wide awake. I think you'll find you're going to start liking coffee. Sometimes mornings just seem to drag on and coffee will help."_

"_I don't think I'll ever like coffee mum. And I'm not hungry, I'm just going to go to bed."_

Nobody was in sight the closer they got to the Burrow, but they heard dogs barking in the distance. All three girls looked at each other.

"Dogs. . . ? What the hell?" Dominique said. "Who would have gotten dogs?"

The barking was coming closer and closer and around the corner came a Siberian Huskie and an Irish Wolfhound; both were a dark brown.

"Holy hell, if they bite us. . ." Dominique said. Rose walked forwards though, kneeled to the ground and held out her palms. They came up and started sniffing and licking her.

"They're friendly you two, and just puppies. Look how small they are. Stay calm," Rose said, scratching behind their ears. She just wanted to hug them to her. They were so small, and forgiving. Entirely unselfish beings.

_The days got worse and worse. She received hate notes on her desk, sometimes things would go missing from her cubicle, someone 'accidentally' spilled their hot soup on her one lunchtime. Nobody would talk to her. They all disliked her and she stopped bringing lunches so she wouldn't have to sit by herself in the lunchroom while they all talked among themselves, sometimes shooting barbed jokes at her. She hated it. She hated working. She hated the ministry. She hated being cooped inside the tiny cubicle, subject to meaningless and pointless work. She knew she wasn't wanted and she just wanted to get the hell out. _

"You call that small. . ." said Lucy doubtfully, still standing. The husky came over to her and jumped up, placing his forepaws on her.

"Dog drool. Disgusting! Down dog, down!"

Rose whistled and the husky went back to her as Dom cracked up at Lucy's expression. "Hey you two. You two are real beauties aren't you."

"We've got the bloody dog whisperer over here. Never would have guessed. You don't think Fred and Rox have become animagi, do you?" asked Dominique.

"They have no time on their hands. They're off at training camps every second week. And I don't think the two of them have enough brainpower together to figure it out," replied Lucy.

Rose shot her a frown. Lucy sighed, "I still love them to bits and they are amazing Quidditch players but all I'm saying is that they don't particularly care about those sorts of things."

"That's not what you said!" Dominique pointed out with a smile.

"Whatever, it's what I meant. Can we make it to the house in this decade?"

"_What do you mean you quit?" her mum asked her. "Carrie said you were doing wonderful, and that everyone looked up to you there!"_

_Rose shook her head. "Mum, it wasn't like that. I just. . . I just. . . the job. . . I need to leave. Carrie was barely there and I. . . " She trailed off. She didn't want her mum to know she was a failure at work and nobody liked her. She knew her mum wouldn't accept it._

"_Rose, you were barely there for two weeks. What's wrong? Did someone say something to you? We can go talk to Carrie. . . Just tell me, please."_

"_No. . . everything's fine. I. . . I bought a boat ticket to France. And I'm leaving tomorrow. The ministry's not for me."_

"_France! What on Earth are you going to do in France! There are lots of other departments at the ministry, don't be irrational - we can try another department. There is honestly so many and they're prestigious careers!"_

"_Mum. No. I need to do something else. I'm not going to stay in England and try to be something I'm not. I can't do the ministry. I just need to figure things out. . . and so I'm leaving. There's honestly nothing you can say to me that will make me stay. I'm sorry. I'm going to go pack."_

_She could feel her mum's shocked stare follow her up the stairs._

Rose stood up. "Alright, let's. . . go to the Burrow."

The dogs trailed behind them as they finally reached the front step of the Burrow before they took off running around to the garden. Dominique and Lucy announced they were going to go around to the back because that was where everyone would be anyway. Rose felt this need, this sudden urge to go inside so she walked up the steps.

"_Rose, Rose. . ." Rose woke sleepily and saw Hugo's freckled face in the doorway._

"_Hugh, I'm tired. . ." she said. Hugo ignored her and sat cross-legged at the end of her bed. Rose blinked and stared at him through the darkness, slowly sitting up on her bed. "What?"_

"_Mum and Dad are arguing downstairs about you," he said._

_Rose sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Why won't they give it a rest? What are they saying?"_

"_Mum doesn't want you to go at all. She's saying you're only seventeen, you've just graduated, you have no money and acting too quickly and not responsibly. Then Dad is telling her she can't hold you back and that they need to support you and all that."_

"_They care too much." _

_Hugo frowned at her. "They can't care too much. They're our parents."_

"_Yeah I know. . . I just wish. . . well, I don't know."_

_Hugo and Rose sat silently for a moment. Rose could just make out her parents voices from under her. Her dad's voice was rather calm, but her mum's, well it was certainly going off._

"_How long do you think you'll be gone?" asked Hugo quietly._

"_I don't know. . . longer than everyone thinks."_

_Hugo nodded. "Well, do you think you are going to go to Brazil at all?"_

_Rose looked at him curiously. "Brazil? Oh? That's really far away from here."_

_"I know you're going to end up on that side of the world, even if you say you aren't. But, if you go to Brazil, time it so I'm on summer holidays next year, or the year after I graduate. I want to go visit there."_

"_I'll try Hugh, I really will, but no promises. . . now you should go to bed. I'm tired."_

_Hugo crawled off her bed. "Alright, just be careful tomorrow. Mum's not going to let you go that easily, no matter what dad says to her. G'night Rose. Don't let the bed bugs bite!"_

_Rose laughed softly into her pillow at her brother as she laid back down. "I hope tomorrow turns out okay. . . goodnight Hugo."_

Rose pushed the door open and peered inside. She was. . . she didn't. . . she really. . . All her emotions were conflicting. There were two faces she wanted to see more than anyone. . .

And then her Dad was standing before her. The smile that lit her dad's face was more than enough to send her barreling towards him. He opened his arms wide and Rose hugged him, squeezing so tight.

"I missed you little Rosie," he whispered in her ear. She squeezed tighter, burying her face in his shoulder. There was nothing more comforting than a father's hug.

"Your mum's upstairs. She'll want to see you too."

With amazing timing, Hermione descended the stairs. "Rose," she said breathlessly. Rose looked up at her mum. Hermione kissed her on the check. "I'm so glad you're here. You look so. . . _tan_."

"Hi mum," Rose said softly. The last time they were together they had had a huge argument. But none of that was evident on her mum's face. Her mum looked at her with a small smile and then enveloped her with a tight hug. Rose swallowed a few times to make sure she didn't start crying. As comforting as her dad's hug was, this just about made her cry. It had been too long. Way too long.

Her dad then reached his long arms around them both. "The only one missing is that rascal Hugo. We're glad you're here Rosie. Welcome home."

They stayed like that for a moment, together as a family. It had been four years since Rose had felt so much love and nothing felt better. She was able to forget all the bad for a moment and just enjoy being in the present.

* * *

><p>Rose eventually made it outside and it was just another hug fest as everyone needed to come to her and talk to her of her travels.<p>

"Craziest hairstyle you've seen?" asked Lily as she ran her fingers through Rose's hair. "Your hair is getting so long! And you really need a haircut, come visit the salon you crazy girl!"

The craziest hairstyle was perhaps a young woman sporting a three foot Mohawk that was coloured every colour of the rainbow, or it might have been on an old man with dreadlocks that were over ten feet long. Lily was awed.

Fred and Roxanne circled around her like hawks, inspecting her almost. "What's the craziest sport you did? Dad mentioned something about you climbing up mountains and jumping off with some crazy muggle contraption attached?"

"Of course we didn't believe him right away! We can't believe him half the time. . . But was it true?" asked Roxanne.

She told them it was true and that it was called hang gliding. That of course sparked about one hundred more questions.

Her Aunt Fleur had a sleeping granddaughter in her arms as she gave Rose a one-armed hug. "You look marvelous ma chérie, I 'ope you had a wonderful time. I wish to see pictures sometime, your uncle 'arry told me and Bill that you had excellent photos that Alboos showed him."

It seemed like Fleur wasn't the only one who had heard about some of the photos she took. Five of her relatives asked if she brought some with her, and when she said no, they asked to see them sometime.

Once in a while, a little girl would run by on all fours, grinding her teeth together and growling at everyone. Rose was informed that that was Nina, who was a sabre-toothed tiger today, and biting ankles - so she should watch out. However, nobody seemed too concerned about it.

Everyone seemed so happy to see her, her grandparents asking about her well-being, glad that she was on two feet in England again and not off in the wild galvanizing with wild animals and doing dangerous things. They gave her such a big hug, and she wrapped her arms around them, trying not to squeeze too hard. They seemed so small and so fragile.

Seeing everyone Rose was almost overwhelmed about how loud and talkative everyone was. It was almost non-stop interactions. She was reluctant to admit to herself but she missed them all dearly. Four years was a ridiculous amount of time to be gone. She honestly was surprised that no one was mentioning her long disappearance from family functions.

Wine was already flowing freely and Rose helped herself to a glass as she continued to walk around. Albus and Molly were bringing out some food they had been cooking all morning. "This is just snacks though," Albus told her. "The big meal is coming this afternoon. You'll be impressed at what we're whipping up!"

Even with an open invite, there were only a few faces floating around that she didn't recognise. The only family members she had surprisingly not seen were Hugo, Teddy, and James, who her dad told her went all went off mysteriously when Hugo showed up a few hours ago.

There were a few new additions to the family as well. Last time she had seen everyone, Teddy and Victoire had a small girl named Alexia. Alexia was now six with brown wavy hair and a boisterous attitude. The Lupin's had an addition of three more kids now; Nina, an almost identical copy of Alexia who was three, and then a set of almost two year old twins, Andromeda, who was called Andy and Léo.

Victoire had reclaimed her sleeping daughter as she talked with Rose.

"Andy was up all night, Teddy wasn't watching very closely and she got into the candy drawer. It was exhausting. Thank goodness she crashed now, she was getting intolerable."

Rose looked curiously at Andy and at her reddish-blonde hair that was a few inches long. "She's cute."

"She's a darling. Rose – Rose, watch out. Nina ! _No biting_!" Rose jumped when she felt some small teeth close around her ankle, she looked down and noticed a tiny brown haired girl gnashing her sharp teeth together. She grinned toothily at Rose and then galloped off on four limbs.

"Oh Merlin, that girl. I should run after her. . . but no. She hasn't drawn blood yet, it's all good."

Rose chuckled. "She looks like she's having fun!"

"Yeah, she can walk though, but somehow just prefers running around like that. She's convinced herself that she's a sabre-toothed tiger today. Yesterday it was a giraffe. I'd be more worried if she was fifteen and still biting ankles, but she's little and so why not let her have her fun."

They watched Nina run circles around Uncle Harry and Aunty Ginny who were warily looking at her before Ginny scooped her up to avoid the gnashing teeth.

"She's honestly adorable!"

Victoire shook her head smiling. "She's something alright."

"Are any of your kids metamorphagus's, like Teddy?" asked Rose.

"Well, Nina can change her eye colour from blue to brown but unfortunately that's about it. Andy, Léo, and Alexia haven't shown any signs. You should see Alexia though; she loves when Teddy does his changes. She squints her face up really hard and tries to change her appearance. Alas, she can't, though I'm sure if she keeps trying one day she might be able somehow figure it out!"

"She probably could. She'd have to practise intensely for a long time!"

"Well she can be pretty ambitious. Who knows though! Man Andy is getting heavy. I might lay her down on a bed inside while – _Léo Remus Lupin what do you think you are doing!" _ Victoire yelled over Rose's shoulder at her son. "My kids are wild! Bloody hell! Okay, I have to get this one. Rose can you hold Andy for one moment! _LÉO_!"

She thrust Andy into Rose's hands as she ran off after Léo.

Rose froze.

She had a young child in her hands. Rose barely noticed Léo's white bum as he ran around on the grass just passed the drinks table. . . She was holding a sleeping girl! She was frozen with fear. What if Rose dropped Andy, or squeezed her too tight, or woke her up. . . She didn't know what to do! Was she supposed to hold her to her body, or keep her suspended, or hold her upright. . . ?

Luckily the weight was lifted from her arms by her Aunt Ginny. "Here we go, hello little Andy. All better now. How're you doing Rose? You looked a little uncomfortable there."

Rose ran her hands over her hair and took shaky breath. "Thanks. That was nerve-wracking. I just haven't been around many babies and held even less."

"It will come with time," Ginny said, as if it was completely obvious. "Victoire and Teddy are the only ones with kids so there aren't many chances. It's surprising; all you kids are now adults but no one else seems serious in settling down, or has a really serious boyfriend or girlfriend."

Rose gave a weak grin. It was true, nobody really seemed to be serious about marrying and settling down. James and Riley had been together since Hogwarts but they seemed to be about as far away from marrying and having kids as Rose was without a boyfriend. Lily was probably the closest, but nobody thought he would ask for a few more years since he was shy. Dominique and Fred had on and off again relationships. Louis was asexual. Molly just got a boyfriend and Rose was pretty sure nobody in the family knew about him. That was it.

Rose watched Victoire as she scooped up Léo's pants and tried to chase him down.

"The only person I know who can run with a two year old after having three children already. Where that girl gets her energy I'll never know!" remarked Ginny

"I have no clue. . ."

Ginny looked up at her. "I swear you get taller every year still. I still remember when you and Albus were in Hogwarts and it seemed to be overnight that you shot up so quickly. Hermione was talking about taking you to Mungo's because she thought you swallowed some Growth Potion."

"Ha! Oh, mother."

Ginny grinned when Rose rolled her eyes. "I think everyone's almost ready to go play Quidditch though. You didn't bring a broom right?"

"Ah, no I don't even know where my old one is. Probably at my parents."

"You can pull one from storage then; I must warn you though, they are getting on in their years! There's James, he was looking for you earlier!"

Rose turned and saw James striding purposely towards her. A conversation with James was one she wanted to avoid at all costs. She knew he was going to question her about the invisibility cloak. "Well gotta run Aunt Ginny! I'll talk to you later."

Rose took off, ducking behind Albus who was carrying a large casserole dish and raced inside. She ran up the stairs to the bathroom and locked herself in. Once she caught her breath she walked over to the window and looked down. James was still down there, _good_.

She smiled faintly as she looked down at her family. Louis and her dad were playing wizarding chess at one of the tables, Dominique and Lily were over by the drinks table, Lucy was talking with her dad, Victoire was kneeled on the ground and talking to Léo as he nodded solemnly at her, Albus, Molly, her grandmum, and someone she didn't know were carrying a few things outside and replacing food that was eaten.

She loved her family so much. Just watching them all, she felt a sense of peace and happiness.

She noticed Scorpius sitting at one of the tables with Alexia in front of him. When Scorpius raised a hand, Alexia raised a hand, when he poked her nose, she poked his back, when he made moose antlers at her she copied him again. She was mimicking all his moves and Rose thought it was insanely cute as Alexia was laughing hysterically before she realised she was connecting cute with Scorpius. Not acceptable.

And she never would have guessed he was good with children.

Rose really couldn't stay in the bathroom forever, even though she was sure she could watch her family for hours. There was just something about the dynamic of them that was so real and true.

She walked down to the kitchen and Molly gave her a frantic look.

". . . Molly? Are you okay?"

"Someone needs to stun Al and stick him in a closet somewhere! He's being ridiculous right now and it's driving me insane. '_Molly you're cutting the potatoes too thick_,' '_Molly you're using the wrong knife_,' '_Molly, Molly, Molly_,' like are you kidding me!"

"Molly take a breather. Just ignore him and do your own thing."

"That's what Avani said too. . . alright though. I'm almost done anyway, I want to play Quidditch and so your mum said she'd take a shift in the kitchen."

Molly's eyes sparkled and Rose caught Molly's drift. "Poor Al, that's going to kill him," said Rose.

"It would almost be worth skipping Quidditch to see."

"It would be. Who's Avani by the way?"

"Oh! Is she. . ." Molly peered around the corner. "Darn, I don't know where she went. But it was her and Albus that opened up the restaurant together. They are co-chefs and co-owners. I guess they went to school together and all that. She's pretty awesome actually!"

"Oh, I've never heard of her!"

"You'll meet her quick enough, but I better go check the potatoes! I'll see you on the pitch."

Rose walked outside. The clouds that were off in the distance were slowly rolling closer to the Burrow. Rose paused on the steps before she noticed her mum beckoning her over. She started walking toward her and was about halfway there when her head was wrenched back from her body.

"OUCH! WHAT THE FUCK!"

She heard her mum from somewhere ahead of her yell, "ROSE, _language_!" but her attention was entirely dominated by the voice emanating from behind her and the pain radiating from her skull.

"Hey Rose! Still haven't brushed your hair I see. It's so knotty!"

There was more pulling at her head and Rose grabbed her hair, trying to stem the pain. "_HUGO-ARTHUR-WEASLEY_ let go of my fucking hair!"

"I can't get my fingers through your hair at all! Too many knots!" He tugged again and Rose grit her teeth together. _Brothers_.

"ROSE, watch your language! It's inappropriate!" her mum yelled again. Rose was pretty sure all the attention was centered on her and her brother.

"MUM, _he's pulling my hair!_"

"Ron, go deal with your kids," she heard her exasperated mother say to her dad.

"_My_ kids! Rose, just pull his hair back and end it. I'm about to beat Louis, I need to concentrate."

"What? No you're not!" replied Louis, surprised.

"Hugo you bloody arse, let go," muttered Rose. She managed to twist herself around through the pain on her head and lunged towards him, grabbing a fistful of his hair and yanking. Instantly Hugo let go of her hair and his hands went to his own head where he tried to get Rose's hands away.

"OWWW! OKAY, okay! I'm sorry! Let go!"

Rose still held on tightly though. "Doesn't feel very nice, does it?"

"Noooo! It doesn't! I'm sorry!"

Rose let go of his hair and he took a step back, grinning at her while he rubbed his head. "Hey Rose, how's things?"

"Lovely, just lovely," she said as she rubbed her own head. She looked around and saw Dominique walking towards them.

"And we're _how_ old again?" she asked.

"I would pull her hair for that comment," Hugo told Rose, "but Dom is rather scary."

"If you _touch_ my hair Hugo. . ."

"Well I saw her when she was hungover," said Rose. "She's nothing in comparison, you would be fine."

Dominique wasn't impressed.

"Whatever. Hugo pull up your pants. Nobody wants to see what underwear you wore today."

Hugo opened his mouth wide at her, gasped, and jutted out a hip at her. "You're not my mum!"

Then about five voices came from the peripheries, "Hugo pull your pants up!"

He sniffed loudly and pulled his pants up to his bellybutton and tucked his shirt in. "Is this better?" he asked Dominique.

Before she could answer a purple-haired Teddy slung his arm around Hugo's shoulders. "You look hot, mate. It's way better."

Dominique rolled her eyes. "You're all ridiculous!"

"You loooooove us still though," Hugo said exposing his large teeth and turning in his lips to leer at her goofily.

Dominique couldn't help but smile at him. "Not when you make that face. You look like a gopher."

"Oh!" said Hugo as he threw his hands up in the air. "Hey Rose, there is a special lady and gent I want you to meet! I wonder where they went off to. . ." Hugo raised his hands to his mouth and whistled loudly. There were barks off in the distance and then two dogs came racing towards them from behind the treeline off in the distance

"Why am I not surprised those things belong to you?" Dominique said.

"We met them on our walk in. They're very friendly!" said Rose.

The two dogs came up and Hugo bent down to pet them. "This lovely lady is Kiely," Hugo said pointing to the husky. "And this one is Flynn." The other dog was wagging his tail intensely. Rose let them smell her hands again and they started licking them.

"Where do you keep them when you're up in Dublin? Aren't you rather busy most of the day?"

He shrugged. "Me and the lads all take turns, and some of the neighbours are helping out. We found these two half-starved on the doorstep about two months ago and so I adopted them!"

"Aren't you just a hero in shining armour?" laughed Dominique.

"Hey! Nothing wrong with that!"

"Look," said Teddy. All three followed his finger. Harry was off in the distance, waving his arms around with a broomstick in one hand.

"I think that means Quidditch time. Race you!" Hugo yelled to Teddy and they both took off sprinting, the dogs racing with them before the wolfhound Flynn knocked Hugo right off his feet. They tumbled to the ground together and Hugo scrambled back up while Teddy was clutching his stomach from laughing so hard. Hugo gave his dog a kiss on his nose and then took off again, sticking his tongue out at Teddy.

"Our family really is a nutcase," Dominique muttered.

Rose punched Dominique lightly in the shoulder. "I wouldn't change them for anyone else in the world. Now let's go before we get stuck with the Cleansweep 7's!"

x-x-x-x-x


	12. Broomsticks and raspberries

August 30, 2026

* * *

><p>"I think we all know who's fault this is. . ." James said as he readjusted the icepack on his head. "'Twas Fred's. He hit that bloody bludger!"<p>

Everyone groaned in annoyance. They were all seated by a table in the back corner of the canopy. Quidditch had just finished twenty minutes ago with Harry catching the snitch.

It had been quite an eventful twenty seconds leading up to the snitches capture. To start it off, Fred had shot a bludger towards James. He had been flying slow, talking to Hugo for a moment, when he noticed it at the last second and flew right into Hugo as he tried to escape it, forgetting he was right there. Hugo was pushed out of the way and the bludger hit James on the side of his head, causing him to go careening into the path of Roxanne who had the Quaffle. The Quaffle went flying into Dominique - who wasn't really expecting it and was momentarily dislodged - and she tossed out her arms to regain her balance where she then clotheslined Scorpius, who at that moment was just about to pass her while in high pursuit of the snitch. Scorpius was completely knocked off his broom and landed, winded, on his back. The snitch was caught at that moment by Harry, as he dodged the pileup of his nieces, nephew, and son.

The game was done; everyone was tired and hungry. The adults collected the brooms and were returning them to the broomshed while the kids limped back to the Burrow. Molly and Lucy filled some bags with ice and passed them around. Almost everyone had some minor bruises and scrapes.

They were seated in a circle, half of them at the table and the rest laying out in the grass. The only exception was Louis. He was sitting by himself at another table in close proximity, picking dirt and leaves off his robes with a disgusted look on his face. He rarely played Quidditch with the family, no matter how much cajoling from them or how many jibes he received. Louis really preferred to sit on the sidelines, keeping himself spotless so the fact that he played today rather confused everyone.

Everyone was rather quiet besides James. Scorpius had been on his team and James really didn't like losing, especially to his own dad. James kept muttering under his breath and glaring out whenever he noticed someone looking at him.

James and Roxanne were both seated at the table and holding ice packs to their heads, Dominique had one held to her elbow as she sat in a chair, and Scorpius kept switching the icepack from his shoulders, to his arms, to his legs, to his back while seated on the grass on the other side of Molly.

"Oh you big baby," said Fred as he started grooming his broomstick. He brought his own instead of using the ones from storage. "It's Quidditch, not some nursery game. You win some, you lose some."

James scowled at Fred and then happened to look at Hugo who was trying to put the chain back on his flying muggle bicycle. "No wait, it's not your fault . . . it started before the game. It was Hugo's fault!"

"James, _no one cares_. Just drop it!" said Dominique.

"And James, next time you speak I'll give you another lump on your skull," Fred said menacingly. James scowled and was most likely about to shut up, but then –

"Why is it my fault?" Hugo asked.

Everyone groaned in exasperation. It was known in the family to not let James get fired up about a topic because he could easily blow up over next to nothing when he was feeling moody, i.e. when he lost. Everyone was supposed to ignore him and not ask questions or respond to his statements, no matter how rude or insistent they were.

"_Hugo_!"

"It's not your fault," said Teddy as he bounced Nina on his knee. She was chewing a spoon and grinning like mad. "It's not anybody's, really."

"Well, really, I didn't do anything! I was just playing the game," added Hugo.

"You did do something. . ." mumbled James. "We have injuries! And you don't! You're the one who got away unscathed. You and that stupid bike."

"Oi!" said Fred and true to his word he leaned over and whacked James on his head with his broomstick.

"You didn't think this bike was that stupid a few hours ago. It's _not_ my fault!"

"Hugo, _shut up_! Don't respond to him," Dominique said, getting annoyed.

"It's your fault because you wouldn't ride a broomstick like everyone else!" cried James as he rubbed his head and switched the icepack to where he was just hit.

"Good grief James, it was supposed to be a family game. It was okay to have fun. Hugo's flying bike was pretty fricken cool," commented Lily. "Even though the Cleansweep 7's did fly faster. It was just for fun! Give it up already."

"Eh! Little kid here, no swearing!" said Teddy.

"She's too busy chewing on the spoon to notice; you know she's going to wreck her teeth!" Lily said.

Lucy snorted. "Better the spoon than my ankles again! Honestly, the part-werewolf thing is getting old already."

Teddy, apparently pleased by the comment kissed his daughter on the head.

James returned back to the conversation. "None of us would be like this if it wasn't for Hugo," he stated, pointing to everyone who was nursing injuries.

"Why do you have to play the blame game? Are you _that_ torn up you lost?" Roxanne asked.

"Are we not ignoring him? Did no one learn last time?" muttered Dominqiue, more to herself than Roxanne since everyone seemed to be disregarding what she was saying.

"James none of the rest of us are complaining . . ." Rose said exasperatedly while Molly and Lucy nodded in agreement.

"I'M NOT –"

Lucy cut off James. "Where is Riley when you need her?" Riley was the only one who could moderately control James and wind him down.

Molly nodded. "James, I'm surprised you're not blaming Riley at all –"

"Molly!" hissed Rose and Scorpius at the same time. They both looked at each other and Rose froze. She quickly turned her gaze to the ground.

Molly continued, quite oblivious. "Because we could blame it on Riley, you know. Usually you and her disappear halfway through the game to go snog in the bushes and don't show up until food is served. And when that happens you really don't care who won or not!"

"Hello apocalypse. Molly you just don't use your brain sometimes, do you?" said Dominique and then covered her hands with her ears.

Molly's response turned James red. "RILEY'S FAULT? ARE YOU BLOODY WELL KIDDING ME MOLLY! She's not here! You can't blame her! That's the most preposterous . . ."

"You just had to!" Dominique muttered, tuning out James.

". . . heard and she's in _Romania_, WORKING . . ."

Rose rubbed her temples and groaned. She was getting a headache from him. The yelling was fraying what little nerves she had at the moment. She glanced around at everyone and nobody looked ready to step in and stop him. Once James was set off, it was best to just let him run out of steam. . . but yelling! It was - _he couldn't_ -

She finally stood up. She grabbed the glass of water out of Lucy's hands and threw it on James. His voice died down and he stared at her, simmering and surprised.

"James, shut up! You're being ridiculous right now and it's annoying the hell out of everyone. Calm the fuck down!"

"AHEMM! _Rose!_" Teddy said pointedly.

"_Sorry_."

James's face got redder, and he picked himself off the ground to walk slowly towards Rose. "LIKE YOU CAN SPEAK! You _weren't _playing your top game today either Rose. What the hell do you call that out on the field? And why have you been acting so bizarre? You look like you haven't slept in a week and then you sent that letter asking for the –"

_BANG_

Louis slapped his palm down on the table. "ALRIGHT JAMES. That's quite enough," Louis said, standing up. James stopped talking abruptly.

In fact, everyone stopped talking and looked at Louis and he sat back down, smoothing out his shirt. Louis always considered himself above petty arguments with James, and considered James weak that he could lose his temper easily. The fact that he actually spoke up for once was astonishing in itself.

Louis folded his long fingers in front of him and leaned forward slightly. "You have said more than you need to and I suggest you _shut it_ before someone helps you to it."

James sat down on the grass with a thud, his mouth open. The only sounds in the area were the adults voices as they came closer and closer.

"What the hell was that?" whispered Lucy to Rose.

Rose caught Louis's eye and he gave a slight nod to her without changing his facial expression. She had an ally.

"Sooo, anyone want free tickets to mine and Fred's next game? I've got three!" asked Roxanne.

* * *

><p>It was nearing four o'clock when the rain started. The big ominous cloud in the distance didn't look so ominous up close and it produced a steady drizzle that looked like it was going to persist all afternoon and into the evening.<p>

Luckily the canopy had been set up for hours.

Rose was enjoying herself. It was easy to enjoy the day when there were constant distractions that kept her from thinking too much. All the same, she had been keeping her guard up from James, Molly, and Scorpius. James had been stopped by Louis, and he just seemed embarrassed that he had yelled at her so he likely wasn't going to approach her anytime soon. Scorpius acted like he wanted to talk to her as much as she wanted to talk to him (none at all). That left Molly.

She thought Molly had forgotten all about the conversation of the previous day, because not once during the day did she say anything or look at her in a way to suggest she was waiting for it. So naturally, Rose let her guard down and sat across from Molly for supper.

Just to be safe, she was sure to avoid James and Scorpius. She figured she was okay with Molly for she had Hugo and Lucy on either side of her. Scorpius was a good three people down from Molly and James was way at the other end of the table. Rose thought Molly had forgotten. She didn't know how wrong she was.

It started after all the food was brought out. The table was laden with food of all sorts: potatoes of all sorts: baked, mashed, and creamed; salads upon salads: greek salad, caesar, garden, avocado; barbequed pork and chicken; corn on the cob and all sorts of fresh veggies. It looked amazing. The cooks all received a round of applause and then it didn't take anyone much effort to dig right in.

Rose was so concentrated on loading up her plate that she didn't feel the kick to her legs. They were all rather squished together so a foot accidentally kicking her was no big deal. Then there was another kick to her shins. This time she looked at everyone around her and said, "watch your legs! Someone's kicking."

Hugo had already dived into the food and was only able to grunt at her from very chubby cheeks.

Rose flicked him in the ear. "Don't even bother, I don't speak warthog."

Rose had just finished putting greek salad on her plate when she was kicked so hard she dropped the salad tongs and her eyes started to water.

"Ouch. . .?" she managed to gasp out and then reached down to rub her shin. By some instinct she looked at Molly who sat with her eyebrows raised. She didn't have chubby cheeks like Hugo but she didn't say anything. Just sat looking at her contemptuously.

"Molly?" asked Rose confused. "Did you. . . ?"

Molly pointed to Rose's plate. Rose's eyes slowly traveled down to her plate and she just about jumped out of her seat in surprise. Her food was rearranged from their piles and spelt out '_ASK HIM_.'

Rose hastily took her fork and smeared the message away. She could feel her face warm up and she silently shook her head at Molly.

The second she looked down at her plate again to properly take a bite, the words were there again.

_How the hell is she doing that?_ thought Rose. _I can't even think of what spell she would be using!_

She again smeared out the message and decided to outright not look at Molly. She scooped some food up onto her fork, but the second her fork was lifted from the surface of her plate, the food scuttled off and rearranged to form the words.

Rose smeared out the message again and tried to take another bite. The exact same thing happened.

"_Bloody hell ._ . . ! Molly, can I talk to you a second? _Over there_?" She pointed to the large oak tree a few metres out from the canopy. Molly rose without question and started walking. Rose brought her plate with her so no one could read the words when they reformed.

Molly ran to not get wet, but Rose didn't care. She walked slowly, fuming the whole way. As soon as Rose was a few feet away, she started berating Molly. "What the hell Molly? What's with the spell?"

"Well, are you going to get advice from Scorpius?"

Rose sighed. "Molly, for real? I don't need to. I just want to enjoy the day and not think about that stupid thing. It's not even a big deal. It's nothing. And it's certainly not something I can't handle," lied Rose with vigour.

"I don't care. I don't care!" Molly shouted. She crossed her arms angrily. "I don't care if you think this isn't a big deal. _I do._ I think there must be something wrong with you if you don't. Rose you almost _died_! This is serious! You have some sort of cursed bracelet on your arm! Stop lying to yourself and to me. I can see right through it." Molly waited for the message to sink in before continuing. "Look, you see where your mum is sitting at the table, right next to dear ol' Uncle Harry, and oh! look, _your dad_. Who else is there? Grandad Weasley, Aunty Ginny, James and Victoire. They'd love to hear of your little adventures. But I bet as soon as I start talking, the whole table will quiet down to hear. You don't go talk to Scorpius today while you have a chance, I'll tell everyone. _Don't_ think I won't."

"Molly. . ." Rose said weakly.

"No. Don't Molly me. I honestly won't say a thing if you just talk to Scorpius. You don't have to explain this messed up thing you're in, but just ask for general advice. Now, I'm going back to eat. Lucy's eyeing me down and I know she's going to want to know what is going on. You better ask him quick. I _will_ go to your parents before we leave for today.

"Wait! How am I supposed to eat?" cried out Rose when Molly was a few paces away.

Molly shrugged like it was the most obvious answer in the world. "Just say you'll talk to him." She then took off running through the rain back to the supper table.

"Say I'll talk to him! She's crazy! It's like she doesn't remember what happened at Hogwarts!"

_You know she's just looking out for you, right?_ Marta said to her.

_I _don't_ like her methods_, replied Rose. She put a hand on the oak tree and stared at the plate. Those stupid words stared right back.

_It's too bad stunning family members is frowned upon_. . . Greg said.

_Word_. _Fucking Molly._ . . If her family found out about anything, she knew they help her or try and arrest the organization. She didn't want to risk her life, or theirs.

"I'll talk to him. Are you happy now Molly? ARE YOU HAPPY?"

This time when she smeared the words away they didn't reform. However, nothing was distinguishable on her plate. All her food was mushed together so much she couldn't even remember what their original form was. Unfortunately for her though, the food didn't separate into the original piles she had put them in. She walked back to her seat, her mood turning gloomy.

"You're missing all the food Rose!" called out Hugo when Rose made it back under the canopy. She sat down and Hugo looked curiously at her plate.

"What _did _you do? It's like a food catastrophe!"

"You doesn't like mixed food. . ." Rose said sullenly. It was surprising how fast the family could eat; almost all the food on the table was gone. Practically all the dishes on the table were empty.

"Here, I'll switch you plates," Hugo said. "This is my fourth helping so I'll whatever that is on your plate and you can have this fresh, normal looking food."

He took her plate and switched it with his own. Hugo's plate with heaping with food and Rose's stomach started growling at the sight of it. One simple action could just turn her mood around.

"Thanks Hugh." Rose smiled at him and gave him a one handed hug before plunging into her food as though she had to prove she was truly a Weasley.

When the wine was passed down to her, she actually took a breather and sat up. She poured herself a glass and looked around at everyone.

Her gaze eventually zoomed onto Scorpius and remained there. He was sitting beside Alexia and seemed to be telling her a story by the way his hands and fingers were moving about. She looked enraptured with him. Even Nina was captivated; the metal spoon in her mouth wasn't being chewed.

She felt an elbow in her rib and her gaze was broken.

"Don't be so obvious," Lucy whispered to her.

"What?"

"You're staring at Blondie. Blatantly."

"No."

"Like you could even pretend you didn't notice."

Why did she stare at him? Rose couldn't even remember what she had been thinking a moment before.

"Since when does he play with kids? How does he get along so well with Alexia and Nina?"

"You do realize that Teddy and Scorpius are like second cousins or something. So Alexia, Nina, and the twins are basically related to him as well. And well, he's a good storyteller apparently. I don't know. If you care that much go ask."

"I don't."

"_Whatever._ I know what you don't like though. You just don't like the fact that he's appearing more human right now. You've made him out to be this large, horrible, menacing man and you don't want that to change."

Rose felt a kick to her shins and instead of replying to Lucy she picked up one of the only carrots in front of her and chucked it at Molly.

"I know!" Rose got up and left the table before Lucy OR Molly said anymore crazy things to her. She wasn't ready to talk to Scorpius yet either so stalked past him and went inside the house. Once inside, she noticed legs sticking out of a couch and peeked around the corner to see who it was. Albus, apparently tired by his morning exertions of cooking, was fully conked out and snoring.

Not without consequences however. There was permanent marker all over his face in various squiggles and circles. Rose sat beside him and sunk into the couch, leaning back, and relaxing for a moment. She pulled the blood bracelet out from under her sleeve and lifted up her hands so she could see it.

It looked so harmless. It looked like an ordinary black bracelet, besides the small engraving on it. What if. . .

She yanked the bracelet off.

For a moment, nothing happened and Rose shot up straight almost about to laugh; believing that everything was false, she had been duped the whole time, there was no _Reds Inconnu_, no red handkerchief, no contract –

But it started slower than last time. When her mind slowed down, she realized there was a small tingling in her hands. She could feel, literally, feel the tingling travelling up her arms, both arms. Instead of putting on the bracelet, she waited; waited to see what would happen. There was still a chance it was fake – _right_?

She could feel her instincts kick in_. Not a good idea. . . put the bracelet back on._

But she didn't. She had this morbid but hopeful curiosity about what would happen.

The tingling reached her shoulder and she shuddered as it crept to her heart and lungs. It was like icy, cold hands creeping inside her body. Her whole body was lightly shaking, rebelling at the intrusion. It felt horrible.

It travelled down. . .

Then she felt the first sharp pain in her stomach.

She gasped and bent over. It felt like someone was stabbing her with a red-hot knife. Then more pains, over and over.

Her vision disappeared – or she shut her eyes, but she couldn't seem to open them again. It was agony to move any part of her body. Her tingling hands felt like lead, and she tried desperately to put the bracelet back on. Never before had she felt such violent pain and all the food that she just ate seemed to be burning inside of her.

When she finally succeeded in putting the bracelet back on, the pain backtracked through her body and she could almost feel it resting in the thin metal, waiting. She felt an insane amount of nausea and didn't move as she slowly tried to collect her mind.

She was disorientated.

She was lying on the carpet. Where was she? Her eyes slowly focused. She saw black socks from her position and her eyes travelled up the legs to Albus's face. Albus. She was at her grandparents. Rose, her name was Rose.

Slowly Rose pushed herself off the floor and the nausea subsided. Bright red clogged her vision and she nudged her hair away from her face with the back of her hand. Her face felt wet, and she wiped some of the tears away.

She didn't know if she had been crying because of the pain or the truth of the situation.

By the time she was standing, she was more lucid. Albus was still snoring, apparently noticing nothing. There was nothing marring her body to show for the brief episode but she felt shaken inside. She didn't feel very good.

_Sadistic. _The whole thing was _sadistic_.

She felt stupid for believing it was all fake. So stupid.

But, if there was one positive thing about what just happened, it was that she was going to go find Scorpius and interrogate the hell out of him.

Just as she put her hand on the door to go outside it opened. Lo and behold, Scorpius was standing right in front of her.

He was like a deer caught in headlights. He stood staring at her for a moment before he determinedly looked past her and said, "I'm just waking up Albus." He didn't meet her gaze as he walked past.

"Wait!" called Rose. Scorpius stopped abruptly and slowly turned around to face her. He had a confused look on his face as he assessed her but then his demeanour changed.

"Something happened," he said slowly. His eyes roamed up and down Rose. His whole mood turned professional. It was Rose who shrunk back, feeling nervous now.

Scorpius took a step towards her. "You're shaking. Your thumbs bleeding."

Her thumb was bleeding? She hadn't even noticed. She took a step back. She didn't want to talk to him any longer, not when he was perceptive.

"You were crying. Your hair looks like some animal had a dying struggle in it. Something happened."

There was the insult, and she regained a bit of her confidence.

_Don't let emotions get involved. Be empty. _

"It's not important. I need to talk to you."

"You're talking to me to me right now."

She heard laughter coming closer from outside the door so grabbed two empty bowls from the counter. "Not here." She shoved one of the bowls into his hands and walked to the front door. "Follow me."

She didn't even look back to see if he was following her. She walked out into the rain.

She stopped when she reached the raspberry bushes down the path, a sufficient enough distance from the house that she couldn't hear any of the noise coming from the back and that she would notice if anyone started to come towards them.

Scorpius was a standing a few feet away from her. "It's raining," he said.

"No shit Sherlock. You could have brought an umbrella," said Rose.

"Why?"

Rose didn't think he was asking her why he didn't bring an umbrella. She took a deep breath.

"How do you do your job? Track people and find them?"

He wasn't expecting that question and the bowl fell from his hands - but he caught it before it the ground and straightened up just as quick.

"Why do I have a bowl?"

He was _avoiding_ her question?

"To pick raspberries. Gran was wanting someone to do it a few hours ago. Whatever. Answer the question."

Instead of answering right away, he turned and plucked a few raspberries and set them in the bowl.

"Why do you want to know?"

Rose threw her hands up. _Molly, I'm trying! He's an annoying prick!_

"_It doesn't matter why_. How do you find someone?"

"Who are you looking for?"

"Fucking MALFOY! Just answer the question!" Rose half-yelled, trying to hold back her temper. Why couldn't she remain calm and collected like him? Her being empty didn't work so well.

He had such a smug look on his face as he stood casually in front of her, occasionally picking one of the raspberries. She didn't know how he did it, but even with his hair falling down to stick to his face he was insanely attractive. Noticing his hair made her madder.

Scorpius popped a raspberry in his mouth. "_Language_."

Rose could feel a blood vessel throbbing in her head. It was one thing for her _mother_ to say something to her; it was another for someone to say something when there were little kids around, but SCORPIUS FREAKING MALFOY!

_Hex him_, whispered Greg.

So tempted. She was so tempted.

That vessel was still throbbing but by some supreme strength of will she ignored it

"How. Do. You. Do. Your. Job. Just – _can you just answer it_. I don't want to be here as much as you. Just. answer."

"Why'd you ask me to come out here if you didn't want to be here? You have other family members capable of answering your question. I assume it wasn't just to stare at me in the rain. I am wearing white as I'm sure you're aware as you keep looking."

Her eyes involuntarily flickered down his body and traveled back to his face. He looked even smugger.

Rose couldn't do it. She couldn't. "Malfoy. . . _please_."

Scorpius seemed even more surprised than Rose.

She waited in silence. She had nothing else to say. At least she tried. She was just about to leave when Scorpius spoke.

"It takes time, lots of time. And patience. You start out watching; keep your distance. Observe until you know the person like the back of your hand. You know their habits, their weaknesses, their strengths. You know who their friends are, and where they like to spend time. You find patterns in their life, and talk to everyone who is approachable, but never ever let on who you are and never tell anyone your name. No matter what, you cannot trust anyone fully."

Scorpius stopped and looked at Rose. She just stood there. She couldn't even begin to imagine what she looked like, or what was visible on her face. Whatever was there though was enough to keep Scorpius talking.

"Never completely trust the information from one person; always verify information by two people, or more. You can never get caught somewhere you aren't supposed to be. Always have a plan. You can't be impulsive with this sort of job. The wrong decision could cost your life. Don't enter buildings unless you know at least two exits, and don't enter buildings unless you've scoped out everything you can from the outside. Always make sure at least one person knows you are out and what time you expect to be back. If you are going to be later, contact them. Always have your wand with you, extra water, and food. Always expect the unexpected and be prepared for anything."

Malfoy stopped again and Rose took a moment to process the information. The way he described it made it all seem. . . well, impossible.

"How. . . how do you go about finding information from other people about the person you're tracking?"

It took a while for him to answer. He just stared at her, hard; trying to read what was behind her eyes.

Her shaking had stopped and she was feeling a little better. She was fully concentrated on him, and Scorpius was aware of it. He was aware and a little scared that she was asking these questions. He wanted to know why she was. Why, why, why!

"It takes time," Scorpius said slowly. "You can't ask right away. You have to see the person regularly, be chummy, get _them_ to trust _you_. Or if you need to be quick, buy them drinks out at a pub to loosen their tongue. There's many a people that don't particularly care what they share, they just need a little motivation and a kind ear. You can't be obvious in your questions; they have to be wide ranging but subject-specific to what you need. You can't let an informant know that its information you want, some people will exploit you. You have to make sure the person you're tracking doesn't also go to that person for information. Disguises are important."

Scorpius had just given her a lot to think about. Quite honestly, Rose didn't know how she was going to afford it. She had no income. She only had that muggle money from when the purse thief was brought in. That money wouldn't last forever. And time! She didn't have time! She had a schedule she had to stick to; it was more than just catching a person for the Ministry. This was her life.

She was soaked now, and Scorpius was much the same. But he still stood there, staring at her, with indecipherable eyes.

Rose shuffled her feet together and looked at the ground. Her feet were extremely muddy. She had also collected next to no raspberries.

"Thanks," she finally said.

Scorpius narrowed his eyes at her.

"What do you want to know that for? Why were you asking?"

"It's not important." Rose turned around and started walking away.

"_Bloody fucking hell_!" growled Scorpius. He ran to her and grabbed her shoulder, spinning her around. "You can't just ask for that and not say why. That's bullshit. Absolute bullshit. You obviously asked for a reason. _What-is-that-damn-reason_!"

"It doesn't concern the likes of you," spat out Rose. "And like you even care. You're only asking for Albus or James. I'm not saying anything for my two nosy cousins. Now, let _go_."

She pried his fingers off her shoulder one by one. Her hands were so cold that she could barely bend her fingers, but Scorpius didn't offer any resistance. As soon as the last finger was off, she let his hand fall back down to his side.

"I will find out," Scorpius told her. "It is _my_ job."

_Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit_, Rose thought. She hadn't thought farther than the asking. Of course he was bloody curious.

_We can take him_, Greg said.

_Or get him to help_, supplied Marta.

_Oooor just walk away_, said Rose and she turned and hurried around the corner away from his gaze.

When she reached the back, some people were cleaning up, and others were lounging around on the chairs just talking. She was going to help with the clean-up but Lucy told her to get back to the flat before she caught a cold. She was kicked out of the kitchen and told to go take a hot shower. Not that she was complaining. She was tired.

It was a good half hour before she got out because there were so many people to say goodbye to. She didn't see Scorpius before she left.

It was not a nice walk past the apparition boundary by herself. She was wet, cold, miserable, and scared. It was not a good combination. Rose had a feeling though, there might be worse days to come. Some better, but some worse.

X-X-X-X-X


	13. A phone call and weird sandwiches

September 3, 2026

* * *

><p>Rose calculated the days. She had nothing better to do; she hadn't left the flat all week, too scared that Scorpius was going to corner her in an alley somewhere after the helpful and somewhat disastrous confrontation.<p>

Though, perhaps she was a bit too paranoid. It had been four days since the confrontation and he hadn't come knocking at her door yet. Scorpius did have a job too; it wasn't like he spent all his time obsessing about her. Hopefully.

Each day she had had the intention to leave the flat. She had told herself not to care about Scorpius and attempted thinking of where good places to scout out would be. Each time she chickened out and went back to her bed, crawling under the covers and hating herself for being worried of Scorpius. Of all the people to be scared of! Staying cooped up inside was mentally and physically draining because she wasn't used to it. Even when she was living in London the past few months she was outside as much as possible and always doing _something_. The fact that she was staying inside for the reasons listed above was pathetic.

So Rose did everything she could think of that was relevant to her situation except leaving the flat. One of them being calculating how much time was left. She definitely wasn't accurate down to the last day, but she was sure she was in the right week. She had signed the contract and gotten the bracelet around the third week of August. In four months, she would lose her hand _only_ if she hadn't found Canwood by approximately the third week of December. Say theoretically she didn't in that time frame, then in six month's time, the third week of February; she would lose her life.

Rose sighed and got off the kitchen chair. She should actually check a _calendar_ and see how accurate she could get. Knowing the days would be way better. Her best estimate was December 15th-16th and February 15th-16th. Rose got shivers just thinking about it. She might not live to be 22 years old - her birthday was the 17th of February! She got more technical and counted up all the days on a calendar. It was about 123 days and 185 days respectively. That seemed like a lot of time, especially when it was calculated in days. From experience though, Rose knew the time would fly by _so_ fast.

_I wonder if I should just write my will_, Rose thought. She meant it has a morbid joke, but it wasn't that funny. At least if she knew she was going to die then she could live the six months the best she could instead of being miserable.

_No_. Marta was indignant. _That is the stupidest, most ridiculous idea that has crossed your thoughts in a while. You know what you have to do to live, you have a chance._

_It's not like I actually would. I just don't want to do this._

_Not everyone gets what they want in life. You've just got to make the best of it._

Rose sighed and murmured to herself. "I don't need a bloody counselor. 'Face your fears and stop running.' I know. _I know_!"

_Then actually do it instead of saying it. _

Rose had no reply.

The only thing Rose couldn't figure out was the timing of her fingers. Clara Garwhistle had said that she would lose fingers before her hand. So when would her fingers be gone? Would it be in the week leading up to the loss of her hand? Or randomly? Or monthly? Rose supposed she could always go back to the Headquarters and ask, but she didn't want to do that yet. Rose would just have to be aware if anything started to discolour in any way. Nothing would draw more attention within her family and Scorpius than _that_.

Lucy, Molly, and Dominique were back full swing into school so Rose was home alone during the day and even most nights. They were all in their last year of school and instead of just homework and classes, they had practicums and part-time jobs. It was almost as if Rose had the flat completely to herself.

Listening to Scorpius's advice, Rose tried to assemble some supplies she could use when she went back out into London. She looked in her room. All she really had was a raincoat and shampoo.

_This is pointless when I don't have anything! _Rose thought.

_You know where all your things are love. You know we can take him,_ said Greg.

She didn't go to her ex's house. Instead she tried putting an undetectable extension charm on her backpack with mixed results. The backpack did get larger, it just wasn't undetectable and she would still feel all the weight of whatever she put into it on her back. Her mum could do it! Why couldn't she? Rose scowled and prodded the backpack with her wand.

When she was younger everyone always thought she would be intelligent and a model student, exactly like her mum. However, she didn't live up to her prodigious name. She was horrible at spells and had disappointed so many people. Rose could just remember the look on the examiners face in fifth year during her OWLS. He had asked her who her parents were and then seemed delighted to be the one to test her. His good mood hadn't lasted very long.

Searching through the drawers in the kitchen, Rose found a pack of matches, some shoelaces, a spork, and a few pens. She put that in her backpack. In the bathroom, she found bandaids, a needle, and a broken comb. That also went in.

The phone rang twice twice during her hunt for things and the both times she answered there was no response on the other end. She had heard breathing in the background but there was no reply. She assumed it was a wrong number.

By the time she finished scouring the flat it was nearing lunchtime. Rose sat on the couch fiddling with her bracelet. She had her backpack by the door and was going to set out at exactly 1 o'clock. Today she was going to. She was. She couldn't remain inactive for any longer.

Since she had been to _Coffee for Kooks_ once and didn't mind the neighbourhood, she was planning on going back and hoping for luck there. She was going to ask the baristas about Canwood. See if they knew anything.

The clock was ticking and the flat was quiet, there was only the gentle hum of machines in the background. Rose could feel her eyes slowly close.

She was jolted awake when the telephone rang.

The third time today! In her past few weeks at the flat, she couldn't recall the phone ringing once, but three times in one day now?

Rose walked to the phone, unsure if she should pick it up again. What if it was the person who just breathed loudly in the background? It's not like it would be anyone from her family. Nobody used a telephone. Rose had been the only one back when she had one in the Muggle world because that was how people kept in contact. In the wizarding one, there were other ways.

The phone kept ringing. Rose debated getting it. Realistically, besides her family, nobody really knew she was there. She was kind of doing the 'extended stay' gimmick. In the contract for rent Lucy, Molly, and Dominique were only allowed to have three people living in it legally. Rose was kept on the down low - she was sleeping in a closet! What if someone was phoning about an emergency though?

The ringing was getting rather annoying. Instead of debating to herself and listening to it she decided to just answer it, even if it was just some weirdo again.

"Hello."

". . . . . . shhhh. . . ."

"Pardon? Hello?" repeated Rose. Weirdo again. Rose was just about to hang up when –

"HELLO, IS ANYBODY THERE? CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME? HELLO?"

Rose put the phone back up to her ear.

"Yes! Hello! Someone's here! Uh, are you looking to speak to someone?"

"WHAT? IS SOMEONE THERE?"

What the hell?

"Yes, someone is here," said Rose. "How can I help you."

"OH I CAN JUST BARELY HEAR YOU. YOU'VE GOT TO SPEAK UP HONEY, I AIN'T YOUNG ANYMORE. THESE EARS JUST DON'T WORK VERY WELL."

Rose spoke a little louder. "Sorry. How can I help you?"

"I NEED YOU TO MEET ME AT MY DOOR. I'VE FORGOTTEN MY KEYS AGAIN. BRING YOUR POKER STICK TO OPEN IT."

"Uhhhh. . . _Who_ is this?"

"WHAT? THIS IS ROSE. ROSE DAPHNE. ISN'T THIS THE WEASLEY'S FLAT? DID I PHONE THE WRONG NUMBER?"

"No, no. Sorry. I'm a Weasley, but just visiting my cousins Lucy, Molly, and Dominique right now. I think I could meet you at your door, but where is it?"

"OH IT'S A DIFFERENT WEASLEY? WELL THAT'S PRECIOUS. WHICH ONE?"

Rose hesitated for a moment. This was okay, right? She vaguely remembered the name Rose Daphne from a conversation with her cousins though couldn't remember the context.

"This is Rose. Uh, Rose Weasley."

There was silence on the other end.

"ROSE, ROSE WEASLEY? DID I HEAR THAT RIGHT? THAT'S AMAZING. HOW ARE YOU DEARIES?"

"Yeah. . . it's Rose Weasley. You heard right. And everyone here is good. Do you need to get buzzed up?"

"I MAY BE GOING DEAF BUT I HAVEN'T LOST MY MARBLES YET. OF COURSE I REMEMBER HOW TO GET BUZZED. THE PILLS ARE ALL IN MY HIP PACK."

"Um, okay," said Rose, trying to hold back a snort. "Sorry. Where do you live? I can meet you there then."

"I LIVE RIGHT UNDER YOU. ROOM 513, DON'T FORGET TO BRING YOUR POKER STICK. I'LL SEE YOU DEARIES SOON."

Rose was just about to say that it was only her when the other Rose hung up the phone. Rose carefully set hers back down on the receiver. That was a weird conversation but it sparked her interest. Rose was kind of curious to meet the lady.

She grabbed her poker stick – er – _wand_, and stuck it under her shirt sleeve and walked down the stairs to room number 513.

Rose quickly realized she shouldn't have left so fast. She was waiting. And waiting. Where the hell was Daphne? Right when Rose was thinking she should go check in case she had had a heart attack on the stairs, there was the sound of wheezing heard and the clack on a cane. This old, fat lady came around the corner a few seconds later going so slow a dried up slug could have beaten her in a race. She had on the most ridiculous pair of glasses that managed to make her eyes seem like black pinpricks and she was swathed in bundles of clothes, layers and layers of grey and black. Then of course she was wearing a large hip pack over it all that was bulging with something.

By the time she got to Rose, she was beaming ear to ear. "Well, you look none the worse for wear. I must say I didn't anticipate your height. I thought you would be shorter than Ms. Lucy and Ms. Molly. I didn't account for that. . ." the lady frowned. "And my goodness do you ever have a bad case of spattergroit. I haven't seen it that bad in quite some years. You might not be old enough to remember when that was the big epidemic around. I remember it like it was yesterday, I was diagnosed with it myself for a bit but I came through alright. It's rather boring now without the speckly beings everywhere."

"They – they're freckles," said Rose faintly.

"Well, that's what we all said back then too. But then a full moon would come around and we'd all be naked in a barrel of toads on the hill, hoping nobody unspeckled would see us." She leaned closer to Rose. "Don't worry though, I'll keep your secret. If you need a remedy I've got some in my rooms, Mungos never seemed to quite measure up. I tried to sell it to them years ago when that dinglebat character was the Head Healer and they turned it back in my face. I also have some frog hearts for your cousins so they don't catch your disease; very contagious it is. I've already eaten three this morning so I'm safe. They ward off the speckles very well."

"Heh. . . do you want your door open?" Rose asked quickly, trying to change the subject.

Daphne nodded and turned around, leaning against the wall. She put her hands and cane up in the air and stood there. Rose could easily stare over her head, she was very short.

_What the hell is she doing? _Rose thought.

_My God, she's nuts_, remarked Greg.

"Well hurry up will you? My arms aren't quite as young and as light as they used to be." The lady looked over her shoulder at Rose. "Well, what are you standing there looking like a dumpling for? We can't let these Muggles see your poker stick now. It's just the simple unlocking –" she paused and looked around her to make sure nobody was there. She then whispered, "spell."

There was absolutely no one in the hallway, but cautiously Rose pulled out her wand and cast _Alohomora. _The door clicked softly.

The old woman rapidly turned around and grabbed Rose's wrist before she could put her wand back up her sleeve. She brought Rose's wrist up to her nose and sniffed it loudly. Rose froze and stared in disbelief.

Thank goodness her bracelet was on the other wrist but _what the fuck_ was the other lady doing? Rose lightly tugged her wrist but Daphne just held on tighter.

Rose's wrist was pinched and then sniffed again. The woman was inspecting her arm, turning it this way and that. Just as her wrist was being brought to the woman's mouth Rose finally acted and vigorously yanked her wrist away.

"I should get going. Bye."

She ran past the old woman and didn't look back as she could hear the woman call, "Thanks for unlocking the door dearies. I'm sure I'll see you again." Rose could hear the woman cackling as she turned the corner and sprinted up the stairs. Rose rushed all the way back to her flat and practically threw the door open, violently shut it and then locked it. Holy crap. She was just about bitten!

"Hello? Who's here?" Rose heard a voice call from the kitchen.

Heart still racing, Rose peeked around the corner. To her relief it was just Dominique sitting at the kitchen table and eating lunch. There was an interesting assortment of smells coming from around her.

"Were you just running?" she inquired.

"No! Well, yes. I just met Rose Daphne."

Dominiques eyes widened. "Eeeeh. That sucks. She's such a creepy old bat."

"Yeah. She really was. Seriously!"

"She sort of fancies herself as a potioneer. And to make her even lovlier, she's one of _those_ potioneers."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she's old. Very old. And let's just say she grew up around a time that potion experimentation on humans wasn't really regulated; especially on unsuspecting witches, wizards, and muggles."

"What! That doesn't seem very safe! Why is she living in a Muggle area?"

"Well, she doesn't do it anymore and she doesn't have a wand - she hasn't had one for quite some time. In my opinion, it isn't safe, but she's been Ministry cleared so not much we can do about it. Molly, Lucy, and I keep an eye on her doings and check up on her here and there. But you know what she looks like now so if you ever see her around our floor or rooms here make sure to scare her off. . . I've caught her a few times hanging around, trying to get to the roof. I think Molly let something slip about my workstation. It wouldn't be safe for everyone and for her if she somehow got to the roof and dabbled in my potions stuff. She's barmy. And I _do not_ want her going through my stuff. Ever."

"Not going to lie, I don't really want to encounter her again!"

Dominique shrugged. "Well, she phones quite a bit and it's hard to say no if you've already answered the phone. There is one other wizarding family in this building, but we've bewitched the phone so her calls get rerouted here. They have kids and just don't need to deal with Daphne."

What was the Ministry's definition of _safe_?

Dominique continued. "Daphne always calls for someone to come unlock her doors even though she could easily ask the front desk for a key. If you do happen to answer one time and don't want to deal with her you can always hang up. The phone might ring again but she will eventually go to the front desk. You would think it would be easier to just do that in the first place but. . . whatever."

"I just won't pick up the phone if it rings from now on."

"Suit yourself. That's Lucy's tactic too." Domnique took a large bite of her neglected sandwich.

"Umm, what are you eating?" Rose asked curiously.

"It's a sandwich with lettuce, sautéed onions, peanut butter, jam and pickles. Everything is still on the counter if you want to make something similar. There are still onions in the frying pan too."

Rose made a face.

"I know it sounds weird. Until I took a bite I thought I was going crazy. I'll probably have another one though, it's _that_ good."

"I think I'm alright!" Rose said. She made a regular peanut butter sandwich and sat down across from Dominique.

Dominique raised her eyebrows at Rose. "Get a plate, you're dropping crumbs everywhere."

"Aren't you supposed to be in school?" asked Rose as she quickly grabbed a plate and sat back down.

Dominique shrugged. "I skipped today."

She laughed at Rose's shocked expression.

"Oh come on, it's healthy to skip here and there. Besides, since it's the first week of classes it's pretty much all a review. I don't need really need a review."

"Do Molly and Lucy know you've skipped?"

"Oh Merlin no! Don't tell them. Well, Molly especially. She doesn't approve of skipping. I'm glad that all of us study different things and so we never really see each other in the day."

"Oh, alright," Rose said. Whatever Dominique did with her life was up to her. She had never really thought that Dominique was the skipping type. She always obsessed over organization and had never missed a class at Hogwarts because she didn't like copying others notes, claiming they weren't up to par. She could see Lucy skipping no problem, but never Dominique and never Molly.

Dominique narrowed her eyes at Rose. "You're judging me."

"What? No. If you want to skip, then you can skip. It's up to you! I don't really care. It's only one day anyway."

"It's not like I'm skipping for a bad reason. Do you remember that unidentifiable potion we found in the broom cupboard the night you showed up a few weeks ago?"

Could she remember it? It was all rather vague and she really only remembered the morning, being tired and exhausted, drinking chocolate milk, flooing, and then _Scorpius_.

"Not specifically. . ."

Dominique got a gleam in her eyes. "Not surprised. But Molly found the potion in the back of our broom cupboard, and there was no label on it. I started looking at it last night and I thought that I'd be able to figure it out when I did a few simple tests. But he's not revealing his secrets to me. . . Anyway I still don't know what potion it is and so that's what I'm doing right now. It has to be something! But for some reason I can't name what it is - it's something I've never seen before so I'm trying to determine the properties."

"The potion is a he?"

Dominique looked confused at her. "What? No. I didn't say that. Potions are inanimate liquids. Potions 101. Seriously. First thing we learned in class."

Rose raised her eyebrows. She thought she heard it. . . but perhaps not. "Okay."

"So if I'm not around in the next few weeks, don't worry about it. I'm just on the roof trying to unveil the potions secrets! Lucy and Molly can explain. It's not very weird."

"Sure."

Dominique finished her sandwich and sighed. "Holy stilettos, I can't believe how hungry I am. I'm heading back up though, that potion is calling my name!"

Dominqiue quickly made two more sandwichs, almost exactly the same but this time with some horseradish in one and salad dressing in the other. She put away the lettuce and bread and then she left with her sandwiches, announcing she was going to eat it up in her lab.

Rose was left alone. She felt like going back to bed, but the backpack beside her door couldn't be ignored. She _had_ to go out and do something productive for the day. She had done basically nothing all week. She cleaned up the rest of the food Dominique left out and checked the clock. It was after one, but better late than never.

* * *

><p>One black coffee later Rose sat herself down at one of the tables in the café. She didn't take her backpack off and so sat uncomfortably in the chair, half off of it.<p>

Her fingers were tapping nervously on the cup as she stared at the wall. There were two baristas working today. Rose already knew who she was going to ask, she just needed the coffee house to clear of a few more people. The barista she was looking at asking was a small blonde woman named Courtney who wore feathers in her hair and had bright red lipstick on.

Rose knew she was completely basing her choice off of looks because the other barista hadn't smiled once in the time Rose had been there. Rose also just _felt_ that the blonde woman would be more helpful to her. When Rose had ordered the black coffee Courtney had given her a somewhat shy smile and seemed pleasant in general. She also seemed closer to Rose's age than the brunette. The brunette who was working seemed more like, well, a bitch.

Rose had well finished her coffee when she had her chance. Besides the two ladies working, there was only a man reading a paper in the corner and a woman who was talking loudly on her cellphone. It was cleared of all other customers.

Rose waited until the brunette barista went to the back and then she walked up to the till.

Courtney smiled at her. "Hi, what can I get you? Another coffee?"

_Oh shit. _Rose had brought her empty cup up to the till.

"Err. . . No. . . I'm good." Rose stopped. She changed her mind. She couldn't just ask. This was so awkward!

"Would you like anything else then? Some baked goods?"

_Just ask!_

Rose took a deep breath. "Do you know where. . . I'd like a cookie please."

_No! Idiot! _Rose didn't want to spend money on a cookie! What a waste of her precious resources.

"Okay then, what kind would you like?"

She wasn't going to leave without asking. Rose could feel a blush coming onto her cheeks. Why was this so hard? "I've changed my mind. I don't want a cookie."

Courtney shuffled her hands together. "Oh. . . alright. Uh, do you want. . . anything?"

_Just blurt it out. Say it. Do it!_

"Randy Canwood! Do you know where I could find Randy Canwood?"

Rose was met by silence. How loud did she just say that? She either said it really loud or the she was just noticing the silence in the shop. When did the woman stop talking on her cellphone?

Courtney stood frozen. She widened her eyes and keeping her head straight at Rose she moved her eyes quickly to the left a few times.

Rose looked just in time to see the cell phone woman leave the shop in a hurry.

Courtney still looked at Rose, not moving, but seemed about to speak when the brunette barista came out of the back at that moment. "Are you okay Courtney?" she asked her co-worker. She looked at Rose and narrowed her eyes.

Rose felt that was a good time to leave.

She high-tailed it out of there, walking away with burning cheeks.

_Shit, shit, shit, shit! _

God she was so stupid. She replayed it in her head a few times trying to figure out what she could have done differently. Maybe she should have visited the shop a few more times to become more familiar to the workers? Maybe she should have had a casual conversation first instead of blurting it out randomly? Maybe she should have asked when there was absolutely no one in the shop, or perhaps when it was busy that nobody could overhear? Maybe she shouldn't have asked so goddam loud!

Rose felt she really messed up. Scorpius did say to not ask right away! Why couldn't she just be more patient? How long was the right amount of time to wait? It wasn't like she could just invite Courtney to the pub to chat her up. Why the hell would Courtney take a drink from a complete stranger, or what if she got mixed signals from her? There was so much Rose didn't know.

_Coffee for Kooks_ was the only place on Canwoods bio that Rose was comfortable going to. It was completely out of the wizarding world and Rose liked it that way. The only other muggle places on the list were a strip mall, a bank, and a sports bar. She didn't want to hang around a strip mall - or the bank. And a sports bar? That really wasn't on her top ten places to go, not even top 100. _Especially_ if it was in this part of London. She did spend the night in the tree outside Pemty Tavern, but that was a waste of a night when she fell asleep. She sure as hell wasn't going inside the wizard tavern.

Why did she have to mess up at the only public muggle place she could go to with ease to?

x-x-x-x-x


	14. A clipboard and disillusionment spells

September 26, 2026

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><p>The thing about wearing invisibility cloaks for extensive periods of time was that you felt like a ghost the whole time, like you weren't part of the living world. For the past three weeks, Rose had taken to wearing the invisibility cloak whenever she went out sleuthing. Since she had been wandering around under one for most of that time, it was now normal to stand out in the open and have people milling around without sensing her. It was rather discomforting to be so completely ignored and unnoticed by society, though she never would have thought it would be given how much she avoided the spotlight on a regular basis.<p>

The other side effect of wearing the cloak for extended periods of time was that she got rather confident with the cloak. Nobody _could_ see her, and if she was quiet and was careful, she could creep around anywhere. Wherever she wanted.

Rose prowled around _Coffee for Kooks_ for a few days, hanging out by the back and front entrances. She had a clipboard in hand that Molly had loaned her and was writing down the miscellaneous details of everyone who went in and out of the store and sometimes their conversations if they spoke about something worthwhile. Sometimes she was sitting for hours at a time. Take that patience!

It was too bad she didn't have her camera with her. In fact, it would probably be better if she took pictures of some of the people she was describing. She was pretty sure she had at least seven people described as 'short,' and ten people described as having 'dark-hair.' Most of her descriptions she couldn't really remember the person she was describing. It was only the select few that she had seen more than once she could remember.

At the back entrance, there weren't too many people and it honestly got boring real quick. However, she stayed there for hours at a time, just waiting for something, someone. Sometimes she got lucky and heard mention of 'the Boss,' 'that doofus Ratgar,' and 'the Hatch.' Even the word 'spiffed' was thrown around a lot, but their jargon escaped her.

She always ended up doodling more than writing when there was nobody for long stretches of time. Rose saw Courtney come out a few times to take out the garbage but she didn't take off the cloak even though she wanted to ask her more questions.

By the evenings she really needed to get up and move because her legs always got incredibly stiff. She went on a few walks around the block while she munched on some food that she brought with her. At the days end, her back was sore from being bent over for the day, her legs were usually stiff from not moving very much, and she usually went home with a large headache even though she made sure she drank plenty of water.

When she got tired of scouting the coffee shop, she walked over to the Luminess Bank, which was perhaps the worst place to scout out because of the hundreds of people who went in and out on a daily basis, or she walked to the sports bar (Micheals All You Can Eat and it's a Sports Bar Too). Her back was always the most sore on those days because she was so paranoid about her feet showing she probably leaned down farther than she needed to.

She chose to focus on the bar with nothing happened at _Coffee for Kooks_ for about two weeks. The bar didn't even open until suppertime and it was always the busiest around midnight, regardless of the day. She sat on the ground across the street, just watching everyone interact before pulling out her clipboard to take notes. The side she sat on was usually deserted; most of the people were congregated around the bar. Friday and Saturday nights were by far the busiest days regardless of when the big sports games were. It was mostly men who were going in and out – a mixture of middle aged and younger blokes. She stayed until the bar closed on the busiest nights at three in the morning and then left. She had a few pages of notes again but she didn't know what to make of them. What good were descriptions? She needed to hear conversations. There was never any sign of Canwood.

The bar had large front windows and so she it was easy to observe everyone from across the street. She did regret that she didn't have a set of binoculars because this would be the time they were useful. The bouncers seemed to throw out some people every night for fighting and being a nuisance. The whole crowd of people in there seemed insanely rowdy at all times and hours – slopping beer, pushing, shoving, and cheering on their team in the football match - or whatever sport was going on at the time.

There was no possible way she could slip inside the bar without getting pushed or shoved in some manner. She didn't know what information she could find anyway if she went inside. She didn't recognize anyone she knew and she hadn't stood close enough to hear conversations. She just had a pile of notes on appearances and heights and possible ages of the men and women.

She had told Molly, Dom, and Lucy that she would be gone in the evenings and true to her statement she was, though she always made sure to be back in her bed before sunrise in case they checked in on her in the mornings. Since she gave them warning and they themselves were gone most evenings, they became less suspicious of what she was doing. Less suspicious, but they still had loads of questions of where she was spending her time.

Since she had been going to the sports bar in the evenings for a few hours she began to recognize a few of the regulars who came quite frequently, almost every night. If it was gang related she knew the members would be regulars, so it was a basis for a start. She also began to notice the layout more, as she spent hours in front of the building and often got bored with people watching.

The bar was in a two floor building, though only the main looked to be in use by the public. In the front, the large windows had small ledges beneath. There were also two small windows in the staircase. One between main and first, and the other between first and second so Rose could see the people who went up and down. There were only a few small windows in the first floor, even when Rose circled around the building. Unfortunatley there were no large windows like there were on the ground floor and so she couldn't really see what the people were doing up there.

Most evenings there was a surprising amount of people who went up to that floor, even though there was barely any light coming from the windows. If Rose had to guess she would say they were playing cards – perhaps poker or other gambling games because muggles always seemed to be fond of that. She had never seen someone go to the second floor in all her time of being there, so Rose had a hunch that it was either storage or someone lived up there.

After the first week and a half of the invisibility cloak, she was taking more risks and shadowing people more. Nobody had discovered her, or accidentally run into her, or brushed her, or guessed at all. Even when she made some noise, nobody was able to identify her. She got more bold and moved closer and closer to the entrance at the bar, trying to pick up more of the conversations as the week wore on.

One evening, she found herself sitting right on the window ledge, testing the waters. Whether it was the paint-chipped wood under her or the attitudes of people, nobody thought to make it a seat as well and she remained unnoticed. It proved to be fruitful. She got some wind of the Snakebitten gang, they were 'looking for people,' and 'looking for supplies to make more 'Spiff',' but 'everywhere was down.' The two men were talking about it in hushed voices right in front of her. And they didn't notice her! She also got more wind of 'the Boss,' she heard the name 'Gradford' being mentioned in the same sentence, another 'can't believe I have to work with the idiot Ratgar again,' and how they were all going out to 'celebrate the win of passage to open up Muffledown Avenue.'

It wasn't until Saturday the 26th however, that her tables turned.

It was nearing midnight when she saw three young men walking towards the bar from down the street. She glanced briefly at them and did a double take. They were very handsome, but only one of them was new: the second tallest man who had dark hair. She had seen the tall blonde and the stocky brown-haired man a few times in the past week when she was sitting on the other side of the street, but never up so close.

The three were laughing, joking, and pushing each other around which led Rose to think they were definitely drunk. Now that she had a closer vantage point she vaguely wondered why they were coming to this bar. It wasn't exactly the nicest place from what she had been able to tell and there were never very many women in it.

They came closer and Rose subconsciously checked that her feet weren't showing as she started to write down their descriptions.

The new brunette had on a pair of blue glasses and his longer hair was in a loose ponytail. He had a short dark beard that covered his face and was dressed in a pair of brown trousers and a tee-shirt that said _Hipster Hunting_. The shorter man was more muscular but wore a loose jumper and had brown hair gelled up in the front. He was talking animatedly with his hands moving in all directions.

The blonde, Rose thought, was by far the most handsome. He had shaggy long blonde hair that was too short for a pony-tail and also wore a short cropped beard that was a few shades darker than his hair colour. He sported black trousers and had on a loose blue plaid shirt. He was laughing and joking with his friends but when she focused specifically on him she noticed his eyes flicking left and right all around him.

". . . he said, he said – and I quote – I'm serious lads, stop laughing Archie!" the short man said to the _Hipster Hunting_ man, now Archie. "'We are on a mission! To the big cheese!' And then he just jumped out the window. Just jumped! Just like that! Man that stuff is great! Wish he had more of it! He said he paid an arm and a leg for it though."

Archie and the blonde broke down laughing. When they stopped, Archie, who had his hands clapped on the other two's shoulders said solemnly, "we've arrived." They all looked up at the bar and then at each other. Benny shouted, "mission tonight!"

Archie shook the stocky guys shoulder, "Benny, hottest girl."

"I've told you already! This isn't the place to find chicks!"

Archie ignored him and shook the blondes shoulder. "Aaron, you have to talk to her."

Aaron, the blonde, rolled his eyes and Benny shouted out, "yeah you prude! Quit being so goddamn shy and all - _all noble_ every time we head out."

"Well Archie, with all your demands I say you've got drinks then!" said Aaron, saying his first sentence within hearing of Rose.

She froze and her pencil stopped moving. His voice sounded so familiar. Why did his voice sound familiar?

"Only this time! I swear you two drink more every time we go out! Aaron, mate, you owe me a pint from last time!"

"And you bloody well owe me three still!" Aaron replied with a friendly smack to Archie's head. Archie readjusted his glasses, unaware that a red-headed girl sat in horror only a few feet away.

She knew that voice! It was bloody, goddamn Scorpius! She stood up abruptly before her mind realized what just happened. She instantly ducked back down. Her feet had been showing! She cursed her height at that moment and how small the cloak was. Very quietly Rose pulled out her wand and held it in front of her, keeping a wary eye on the three guys. She was mostly keeping an eye on Scorpius who even though he was acting like he was absolutely tanked he still seemed to be aware of his surroundings. She was half guessing that he was faking being drunk. He was definitely working – he had a new name and everything.

_What are you going to do? Stun them outside a muggle establishment?_ asked Marta scornfully.

_No clue. But it's better than nothing_, she thought back. What would she do if one of them _had _noticed? Try to sneak out? Jinx someone? It would look as if someone fainted if she used a stun, perhaps that would have been best? Fortunately she didn't have to find out because none of the guys seemed to notice.

She stayed crouched to the ground as they went into the bar. She followed their movements and then watched them from outside.

Her eyes couldn't keep of Scorpius; he looked so completely different from how he always looked that Rose had a hard time really believing it was him. It was the same blonde hair, just longer, the same build, same height, even – and she was loathe to admit it because that meant she had observed him closely – even the same walk. Just – his clothes! and his face! Never would she have imagined that he would 'grunge' himself out and wear clothes so – not classy. It was normal everyday wear for the rest of the population, but it was bizarre to see him in those clothes. It was completely different to what he usually looked like, but he was somehow able to pull it off.

The longer Rose watched him the more she realized it wasn't just his looks. Even his actions were different. He wasn't so high strung right now and she could see him laughing, joking, and clinking beer mugs with his friends like he was a regular here and had been doing it all his life.

She didn't know how long she stayed crouched to the ground for. Five minutes? Twenty? An hour? Eventually she realized her knees were groaning under her weight and then decided she should stretch out and stop being so obsessed with him. She didn't care that this loosened attitude was attractive. Rose walked back across the street and then sat down, letting her legs stretch out their length the best she could under the circumstances. She still kept an eye on the three in the bar out of the corner of her eye.

The more Rose thought about it, the more she realized she could potentially get some collateral against Scorpius. Just in case he ever decided he wanted to question her. He hadn't come near her for almost a month, but she didn't want to be paranoid all the time. Perhaps then she could ditch the invisibility cloak for a few days without always worrying. If she could find something big tonight on him. . . well maybe that would be enough to get him to stay away.

She could feel Gregs approval.

She was just beginning to form a plan in her mind to go find a camera when she saw him leave his friends and head to the men's room. But he didn't go there He turned off at the last second and then blending in perfectly with his surroundings, he followed the wall walking towards the staircase. It was as if nobody was watching him - no heads turned towards him as he walked by. Scorpius ascended the stairs. She saw his face in the window, looking out briefly, and then it was gone.

Rose had a brilliant spur of the moment idea. She put her clipboard in her backpack and left it hidden in a large shrub nearby. She crept to the back of the bar and adjusting the cloak to free her arms, she started to climb the wall of the building using a combination of the old bricks that were sticking out, some pipes running the length of the wall, and the decorative art that was jutting out by the windows and doors.

This climbing was without major conscious thought. She did have the brief flashback in her head of screaming and the white terror of eyes. . . but she blocked it out and just focused on moving hands and feet. Slowly and steadily. This was her second climb since being back and since she managed to climb the sinkhole fairly easily, she didn't have as many worries that she would freeze halfway up on this building.

She climbed to the first floor without too much difficulty but had trouble manoeuvring the invisibility cloak to cover more of her body as she peered into the window. She had to squint, the window was very dirty but she could just make out candle light in the distance and a few tables out with people sitting around them. It was a bit too dirty to make out people, but the one guy did look like he had blonde hair.

The first floor wasn't accessible, but what about the second. . . ? As quietly as she could she kept climbing upwards. The pipes were rusted against the metal bindings and so didn't make a racket while she was climbing. When she peered into the window she found an empty room. Completely empty, as in no furniture, no people, no animals, no desks, _nothing_. That was a start. Rose figured if she could get in, she could infiltrate the first floor from above and spy on Scorpius, maybe overhear a conversation. There were way less people on the first floor than the main and it was less risky to walk among them there.

Not worrying too much because nobody was visible inside, but still trying to be quiet, she tried to open the window with no luck. It was stuck shut. She wrapped her arm tightly around the pipe and paused for a moment to think of another way in. There were three other small windows, two that were on the front and the one adjacent to this one, but Rose had a feeling that those would be locked as well. It was then that she noticed the skylight on the roof that looked to be part of the way propped open.

She climbed to the roof and once over the ledge, breathed a sigh of relief that she made it up alright. No worries, no qualms, just straight climbing. She made her way over to the skylight.

Rose checked the floor for people again and then lifted the window. It squeaked open. She triple checked to make sure nobody was in the room and lowered her feet down into the hole. They blatantly stuck out of the invisibility cover and she decided to just toss the cloak over her shoulder and disregard it for the moment as it would just get in the way.

Resting the window on her body she quietly flipped around so she could lay on her stomach and started inching her way down into the room. The window squeaked with every movement and Rose winced, trying to go down more gently. If it went good, she could reset the window to its previous position while hanging and then jump down to the floor, which would be a lot closer when her full body was extended. She was in a vulnerable position at the moment though – she was visible and half hanging out a window. She wasn't safe until she had both feet on the floor with the cloak on. Her ears were listening for the sounds of footsteps – anything that might indicate that she was making too much noise.

Now came the tricky part. She held on tight to the ledge and leaving the window still resting against her back, she tried to lower herself down. However, her arms weren't as strong as they used to be and couldn't support her whole weight. Apparently a year of inactivity really depleted muscle mass. There was also the fact that she didn't have a ridiculous amount of adrenaline at the moment too. She dropped down much faster than she meant to. The window smacked down on her fingers.

"_Son of a!_ Fuck!" Her fingers were throbbing in pain but she didn't let go of the ledge. She was oscillating gently back and forth. She knew that she just made a lot of noise.

She tried to reset the window to what it was at previously but her fingers wouldn't hold her weight now, not with the throbbing. She let go and landed with a gentle thump – not so loud as an elephant would have been, but louder than she wanted. She heard the window close with a _snap_ behind her.

She scrunched her fingers a few times to loosen them and was about to pull the invisibility cloak back on when she felt arms wrap around her and her legs were swiped out from under her as she fell backwards, guided down by someone's hands. She was so surprised she forgot to scream. She fell rather silently onto the floor before her attacker basically jumped on her, putting his full weight on her and knocking all the air out of her lungs. Her eyes were immediately covered, though she probably wouldn't have seen much with minimal light in the room.

One of her arms was pinned under her and the other was between her and her attacker. A large hand completely covered her mouth; she couldn't breathe very well and was trying to draw large frantic breaths through her mouth. The hand was impeding her attempts and so she had to settle with breathing through her nose, though her lungs ached for more oxygen.

She tried kicking and squirming to get out but she felt rather than saw a wand digging into her throat. That stopped her squirming for the moment. She tried yelling and saying, "_get off me_" but no sound escaped her mouth. She couldn't talk. She was spelled.

Her attacker was tall, taller and heavier than her and she felt for the first time, what it was like to be trapped – to be utterly helpless at the hands of someone else and not know what was happening. It was terrifying. Her lungs were hurting as her heart beat picked up and she couldn't get in deeper breaths of air. Regardless of the wand at her neck, she tried kicking herself free again, or at least getting her arms free so she could use them. She would not be subdued and caught. She would fight her way until the end.

A voice however, made her stop. It was a voice that for the first time _ever_ she was glad to hear.

"Would you stop fighting back for once in your life Weasley? Shut up and stop moving. You picked the worst time to interfere. We've got company coming."

She calmed down quickly, at least it was someone she knew, but really? Even though she was happy it was him, she still wanted to throttle him, wanted to yell at him, 'you put a friggin spell on me! I can't say anything idiot!' or yell 'let me free my arms! I can't feel them!' She heard loud footsteps on the stairs and stopped fidgeting. She heard Scorpius mutter something and then felt the curious sensation – like an egg cracking on her. Though she knew that wasn't the case. She was under a disillusionment spell.

She felt Scorpius resettle himself on her with his hand still completely covering her mouth.

Footsteps reached the top and the door swung open with a bang. Rose couldn't see a thing and instead of being terrified like the past few tense situations she had been in she felt rather safe. Though they were in danger, she didn't feel it so much.

"_Stupefy_!" a few different voices shouted. Through her blindfold she could see some bright red light. Scorpius somehow pushed her down more, putting more weight on her, but his grip on her mouth relaxed. He was _heavy_. She probably resembled a pancake right now.

"Nobody's here. . ." a voice said.

"I heard something. There was loud noises."

Footsteps entered the room and heavy clomping went every which way.

"Jimmy, this room is empty. What're you lookin for?"

There was a pause. "I don't know. There have been too many weird occurrences the past few weeks."

"The ceiling. Look, the window. It's closed."

Someone swore. "Leaving? Or entering?"

"Not entering. We have the stairs covered."

"Then how did they get up?" asked Jimmy. "It's nobody from the first floor. And you can't get up to the first floor without clearance, so nobody from ground level."

There was more shuffling around of feet and she heard someone go back down the stairs. By her best estimates, there were three people in the room now, not including her and Scorpius.

"Maybe. . . maybe the wind blew it shut?"

"Yeah, yeah Jim. It was the wind. Or a ghost was making the noises. Nobody gets by us!"

Jimmy responded coldly. "Reopen the window then to get some ventilation and try to come up with an explanation for the thumping we heard. I'm going back down to the tables; tell me when you think of something with that abnormally small brain of yours."

Gradually the footsteps all left except one. She could hear pacing back and forth for a few moments before the person said, "_ghost_. Stop haunting us and bothering us wherever we go. You're interrupting everything. _Silencio_!"

His footsteps went downstairs and besides the sounds coming from beneath her, it was silent on the second floor.

Rose couldn't feel the arm that was under her at all; it was like it was dead. She expected Scorpius to move and get off of her, but there was no movement by him. He was completely still.

"Malfoy.." she mouthed, forgetting that she couldn't speak. Maybe there was someone still in room? – someone unmoving and silent. She didn't quite understand why he had to be laying on her though. They both could have been sitting separate in the room – in fact, he could just leave her alone and pretend she wasn't here. She felt very deflated and needed more air. Though his hand had loosened, her lungs couldn't expand because of his body weight.

After ten more minutes of getting squished Rose couldn't take it any longer. She didn't care if anybody was in the room, she had to get movement into her arms and get him off of her. She needed to get out of here.

She felt as though she had no energy left and so instead of kicking or squirming, she rolled. It took some effort to get Scorpius's dead weight off of her, but he was putting up no struggle. She rolled over until he was off of her and then she collapsed on her back beside him, letting blood flood back into her limbs and getting a few badly needed deep breaths into her lungs. She could feel Scorpius's body heat very near to her even though she couldn't see him when she took the blindfold off; she was surprised he wasn't saying anything. She shook her arms out gratefully.

_He's letting you escape, take it! _instructed Greg.

_Something isn't right_. . . thought Rose. Even though she didn't want to stay in the room with him any longer than necessary, something was wrong. He wasn't saying anything – and she was expecting some pretty sarcastic or flippant comments from him. He was just lying there still. After her arms were feeling more like arms and less like limp noodles she pushed him. He half rolled away and then flopped back.

_What. . . !_

Rose was confused. It was like he was dead. Then she remembered the 'stupefy' that was shot into the room.

"Bloody idiot," she said, though no words came out. She still had the stupid _Silencio_ cast on her from him. "What am I supposed to do now? Carry you from the room? Apparate us away even though I can't speak?"

_Leave him_, her malicious side recommended.

She couldn't do that though. That was against every personal moral she had and was taught. He was unconscious. She couldn't just _leave_ him. This was 'enemy' territory, for them both. Even though she had a huge secret at the moment and could make a getaway right now, she personally couldn't. She was still her, Rose Weasley, no matter what she was going through. She wasn't some uncaring, heartless person. She would figure out how to deal with a conscious Scorpius when the time came. What if someone came back up the stairs and found him? She could never live with herself.

And even though he was an arse all the time he was still. . . him. Still roommates with her cousin, friends with more than half of her family, cousins to Victoire's children. Still the boy she went to school with, the boy she thought she loved at one point in her life.

She shook him, hoping he would wake up. She prodded him with her wand, though no spell came out. She plugged his nose, pulled his hair, but he still didn't wake. She could feel his beard on his face and she wished she could see it again. She couldn't remember what he looked like with it.

Rose couldn't take him up through the skylight, he was too heavy and she would not be able to lift a limp body above her head. If she had to, she figured she could carry him downstairs, but that was not an option at this moment in time. Apparently the stairs were being watched and the bar was chock full of people.

Since she had the disillusionment charm on her, she linked the invisibility cloak through her black jean loopholes, tying it into place so it wouldn't get left behind. Doing that made her think that she should start wearing a belt, her jeans were getting loose on her. She dragged Scorpius's body over to the windows on the wall and looked down.

_Way too high up to risk it, _said Marta. Rose reluctantly agreed.

Nobody came up with all the noise she was making by dragging Scorpius around. The _Silenco_ on the room was working for them in one form.

There was nothing else to it. She would have to wait for Scorpius to regain consciousness. Then he would take the blasted Silencio spell off of her and after she could make her getaway.

She settled down for the night. She sat with her back against the wall, facing the entrance to the staircase. She had one leg swung over Scorpius's legs so she wouldn't lose him and also for the comfort of knowing she wasn't alone for once (she didn't admit that part to herself).

The night passed. Rose began to understand why Scorpius was on the third floor. She could hear lots of the conversations going on below her quite clearly. She didn't really care at the moment though and faded from sleeping to wakefulness. Every once in awhile she jostling Scorpius in hopes that he would regain consciousness quicker, but he didn't move.

It was after the bar had closed and the whole building was silent that she felt him finally stir under her. She was half asleep and didn't register it until she felt his groping hand trace her leg up to her arms and then to her shoulders, her neck, her face. She got severe goosepimples. And finally woke up properly.

She pushed his hand off of her.

"Rose. . .?" he asked, not quite lucid yet. She felt him sit up beside her and she took her leg off of him slowly, but still left it close so she knew where he was. He cleared his throat and thumped against his chest a few times. "Weasley?" he asked again, whispered almost.

She moved her leg so it was touching his and then back away. It wasn't like she could talk.

"Where are we?"

_Come on genius; unspell me so I can talk! And then leave!_

She stood up beside him and then reluctantly she found his arm and pulled him up too.

"Ouch, my ribs," he muttered. "Weasley this is you, right? Or am I going crazy?"

She found his shoulder and then reaching upwards she flicked his head.

"Geez! Okay, okay it's you. You realize you _do_ have a mouth and my ears are still working."

_For real?_ Rose flicked him again.

"What! Why aren't you–" he stopped and Rose could just envision a light bulb lighting up over his head. "Ah. . . sorry about that. Wasn't sure it really was you when you dropped down. I actually should still question you still, you could be in disguise –"

She flicked him again.

"Okay! It's definitely you."

She felt him reach out to her, making sure of her position and then mutter the counter-spell under his breath.

She stood still for a moment before she was able to vent. She faced the section of air she thought he was in even though she couldn't see him at all. "Bloody hell Malfoy! What the hell was all that about? We could have been out of this dump hours ago if you didn't cast the stupid _Silenco_ spell. And squishing me to death?"

She heard him sigh, it sounded more like a sigh of relief than of annoyance. "You better be quiet, the floors are thin."

"There's a _Silenco_ on the top floor," Rose said scornfully. "The guy thought we were ghosts." She started walking away.

"Wait," Scorpius called. She could hear him take quick steps forward and then he bumped into her because she couldn't see him to move out of the way. He grabbed her arm and then her hand and held on tight. She couldn't shake it loose.

"This place is always guarded and there are anti-apparation restrictions everywhere. Across the street is safe."

She shook her hand, trying to free it.

"Lovely to know. Well, I'll be seeing you around. Or not. I prefer the second. Let's not meet up again." Rose stopped talking and tried again to shake his hand off. "Seriously Malfoy, let go of my hand. I'm not playing games."

"Neither am I. We're both disillusioned so we'll go down together. It's safer. We won't run into each other."

"I can bloody take care of myself!" Rose cried out and vigorously shook her hand. His hand didn't even falter. She offered a bit of resistance before finally following. A few more minutes with him wouldn't kill her. At least he wasn't questioning her about why she had been creeping onto the third floor, or anything else pertaining to what she had been up to.

All was quiet in the building and the street when they were finally outside. The night air had cooled and Rose shivered a bit.

"I'm apparating us to your apartment and then I'll Floo over to my flat from yours," he said.

"I can apparate myself," Rose said tiredly, giving her hand another shake in an attempt to loosen it. Scorpius said nothing; just gripped her hand tighter. She pulled her backpack from the shrub and then they were gone with a crack.

In the alley, he took off the disillusion charms and she could see his disguised face again. He averted his eyes from hers and seemed embarrassed that she was seeing him like this. She couldn't stop staring though; she wanted to touch his face. She followed him into the apartment and he entered the code at the stairs.

Then he looked over his shoulder and for the first time that night acted like himself: he smirked at Rose. Rose widened her eyes with realization. He knew the passcode! What the hell?

He stopped outside the flat and unlocked the door with a quick spell. He pulled her inside, shut the door and then locked it. He turned to face Rose. She could just see the outline of his face in the dark. "I'll see you Tuesday at one in the afternoon. Do you have a preference of a place?"

"What? _Pardon_?"

"We're meeting Tuesday. At noon. Either you pick the place or I will. I must confess that I rather feel like eating at _The Cricket at your Hearth_. They always have a good lunch menu. And it does support Al and Avani."

"Lunch?" Rose questioned. "I'm not meeting you anywhere!"

"Well, _Cricket at your Hearth_ then. Remember, at one. If you're not there, then I'll come find you. I do have the ways." Scorpius twirled his wand in his fingers and raised his eyebrows at her. "Goodnight Weasley. See you Tuesday. One of your cousins can give directions if you don't know the way to the restaurant."

He went to the fireplace and was gone.

Rose stood with her mouth hanging open. She should have left him unconscious on the floor. _Damn it._

x-x-x-x-x


	15. Newspapers and good food

September 29, 2013

* * *

><p>Scorpius sat with one leg loosely tapping on his knee while he read the Daily Prophet. He was early at <em>The Cricket at your Hearth<em>. He was meeting Rose at one, but he wanted to finish the last newspaper out of his stack before seeing her. Normally, he had four or five papers to look through, but he had read almost all of them earlier in the morning.

There were a few things in the Prophet that hadn't been in his other papers. There were two dead people found, Donald Flamesy and Fargo Jasmin that the Prophet presumed were murders (they were), and there was one break-in in an apothecary outside London. Those were the only things relevant – to him at least.

Most people would think the incidents weren't connected, but Scorpius knew differently. Flamesy and Jasmin were both minor criminals and both were involved in the gang currently gaining power in London. It wasn't stated what was stolen from the apothecary, just 'a few unnamed and costly ingredients'. Scorpius would bet a few fingernails that purple inked mandrake leaves, caterpillar fungus, and ground hippogriff tooth were among the ingredients missing, if his memory was serving him well from potions class at Hogwarts. Those were the key ingredients in veritaserum.

He checked his watch. It read half past twelve. He had loads of time.

Scorpius had prepared ahead of time for his lunch with Rose. The first thing he did was stop by Mungo's during lunchtime on Monday to talk to Molly, Dom, and Lucy. He needed someone to badger Rose into showing up and who better to ask than the cousins she lived it?

Molly looked relieved and kept giving him smiles when he mentioned that he and Rose were going out for lunch. Lucy was sporting smug looks, but did tell him to question the hell out her because she was being strangely silent and was gone all the time, and Dominique seemed holly uninterested for some reason. Because of Dominique's larger force of personality, he was hoping she would be more. . . _there_ but she seemed to be off in her own world and only focused on eating the food on her lunch tray.

Molly was the one who said she would make sure to mention it to Rose and get her to show up. After Dominique had brought her face up from her food that she was so solely absorbed with, she said Rose wasn't fit to be seen by society because of her abhorrent and atrocious clothes. She then left in a fit of giggles whilst mumbling to herself with cheeks still stuffed full of food like a chipmunks. Scorpius noticed the confused looks on the twin's faces as they watched her leave. They didn't say anything to him though.

After Scorpius received Molly's note that evening saying her and Lucy talked to Rose and she would be there, he thought about his last few encounters with Rose. They were all rather unique encounters. Getting her wand back from Albus (she gave up her wand?), running after the purse theif (he was still confused about that), talking with him at the Burrow (she wanted information), and at the sports bar (still embarrassing for him to think about). Something fishy was going on and Scorpius was determined to figure it out, whether it be today or within the next few weeks. She couldn't resist for that long. He would weasel his way in and get some answers.

He drained the last of his coffee and flipped the page to the gossip section. He honestly hated reading this part of the paper, so usually didn't. He did briefly glance over it before he shut the paper and set it on the table as finished. The gossip section was usually incredibly caddy and featured an excessive amount of Potters and Weasleys with a small dose of jabs at his family and other like ones.

Albus told him that Rose absolutely hated the Daily Prophet because of that section and that she hadn't picked up a paper in years. From all of his skimming, he knew Rose hadn't been featured or photographed in it since Hogwarts. The only recent thing he could think of was the small rumour that went around for awhile about two years ago that Rose had died and how it was all a hushed up conspiracy between the Weasleys.

When Rose had left, unexpectedly and without warning, she disappeared from society. He was surprised they hadn't gotten wind of it that she was in England again, or hadn't seen her at all. Not that he was being blunt, but she tended to stick out of the crowd with her height, red hair, freckles, and her sometimes irrational nature. She had been in the paper way too much at Hogwarts and always hated it. He remembered one article accompanied by a particularly horrid picture of her where she had called the journalist a 'slimy skeezeball of Hippogriff poo' when the journalist cornered her at Hogsmeade. Albus thankfully found her before she said or did anything else.

He didn't know how she got into some of the scrapes she did. He had a chuckle to himself as he checked his watch again (quarter to). Looking back now, he could have a laugh at some of the things she did, but Scorpius distinctly remembering how weird he used to think she was, and how uncultured. He had grown up from that stage, but he didn't think Rose knew that. He even was finding himself in more 'Rose type' predicaments since he started his job.

Even with Molly's say-to, he actually wasn't expecting Rose to show up at one. He knew she didn't like being around him and wouldn't take his threat seriously. Rose didn't believe him when he said he could find her in London and he knew that she wanted to avoid him at all costs.

He wrote a quick note to Mackenzie, the server, saying he would be back in twenty minutes. He left a few quids on the table to pay for the coffee he had already consumed. He walked through the doors leading to the kitchen.

Because Albus's and Avani's restaurant was open to both the muggle and magical society, they had to be extra careful that no muggles could see into the kitchen. The staff used magic occasionally to cook or clean and had 'uncensored' conversations. Basically, there were no windows into the kitchen and there were two sets of doors, positioned so it would be extremely difficult to see all the way through if seated in the main area. The restaurant was in a prime location for the magical society, it was one block away from Diagon Alley, but it still saw many muggles. All magical folk entering were made aware that no magic or speak of magic was tolerated. Dress code wasn't very enforced. It was quite a motley assortment of wizard robes, bad dressing, and muggle wear.

Albus and Avani were busy cooking when he entered but both greeted him warmly. The servers and two other kitchen staff were used to Scorpius's presence in the kitchen whenever he came to eat.

"Rose here yet?" asked Albus while chopping up lettuce.

"No, it's only quarter to. I'm just checking to see where she is." He pulled out his map and set it on the counter.

"Make sure you tell her that her meal is on us."

"Your meal is free too, Scorpius," inputted Avani.

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "You know I'm never going to let you give me a free meal. I'm not family and you need money to make a business. I'll pay for what I eat. I'm paying Rose's too. She can collect her freebee a different time when she's not with me."

Albus snickered. "Good luck with that. She's not going to let you."

"Well, I'm the one who suggested lunch and that was before Molly let slip that Rose has next to no money."

"Oh _Molly_. Don't tell Rose that she told you that. . . She'll be even more proud if she knew you knew. What did the girls say about it all?"

"Lucy was usual Lucy, Dominique was. . . weird. I don't know how to explain it. And Molly was open as usual, but she looked like she was keeping something back, surprisingly. She was vaguely hinting at something else to do with Rose but didn't end up coming out with it."

"That means she's hiding something important but she promised Rose she wouldn't tell. That girl is too easy to read. It's easy to get the answers out of her once you know that."

"Alright." Scorpius focused his attention on the map of London in front of him and cast his spell. It was a particularly useful spell, if one knew the wand characteristics. Luckily for him he had been home when Albus had read the contract detailing all that useful information about Rose's wand.

He started looking for a faint blue dot on the map. The blue dot signified the wand – specifically unicorn hair cores, and more often than not, the person as well. If he was looking for a different wand core, the colour was liable to change: black was dragon heartstring, orange was phoenix tail. He started from her flat and worked his way outwards from the area. He eventually found her dot by the East end of the city, definitely away from her flat and none too close to the restaurant either. He waved his wand in a figure eight a few times in the next few minutes to see if the dot was moving or staying in one spot. She was moving south-easterly.

Just because she was moving away from the restaurant didn't mean that she wasn't going to show up. Even still, he decided to go tail her.

Scorpius picked an alley a few blocks ahead of her that was a safe apparition designation spot and apparated right from the kitchen. Once he was there, he decided his position quickly, snugly squeezing himself behind a few of the bins that were by the alley entrance. Even though it was a snug fit, he was very careful to not touch the sides or the wall so he wouldn't get his clothes dirty. He had dressed nicer than normal today, feeling oddly chipper in the morning. He held perfectly still while he waited.

It didn't take long until she came into his view. From his vantage point in the alley there were, unluckily, plants in the way that were partially blocking her from sight but she didn't have the invisibility cloak on and so he could mostly see her on the street. Even with all the people on the street today she was easy to spot. He could make out a backpack on her back and her hair up in a bun, looking very much like a student or a tourist. He made sure he was hidden in the shadows as she got closer and closer to him.

His plan was either to sidle up beside her just as she was passing or either tail her for the next fifteen minutes to see if she would eventually head to the restaurant on her own – but just as she was in front of him, a young bohemian looking woman walked out of a store across the street and called to Rose, "Hey! Tall redhead! Wait a minute." She dislodged her bag that was trapped in the door and then ran towards Rose. She was a young woman, perhaps middle twenties, with dirty blonde hair and red lipstick on. Rose stood watching her, surprise evident on her face. Scorpius stayed in his position.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude but I don't know your name and I need to talk to you! I don't know if you remember me, I'm Courtney, from _Coffee for Kooks_. You came in a few weeks ago, but haven't since," the girl said.

Rose crossed her arms and nodded. She looked tense. "My name's Rose Weasley."

Scorpius scrunched his nose from the alley. It wasn't good to use your real name, or at the very least she shouldn't have used her family name. Didn't he mention that to her?

"Okay, Rose, I hope I'm not scaring you or anything, but I thought I should just warn you about something even though it happened a few weeks ago. You haven't really been back at Kooks while I've been working. You remember what you asked me?"

Rose nodded again.

"I'm sorry for freezing up when you asked that question, but there was a lady in the store who's part of Canwood's whole gang thing. She's. . . I suppose kind of like a spy. But, do you know anything about Canwood's gang?"

Scorpius was incredibly intrigued now and inched a bit closer to hear and see better around the plant. _Why would someone place a plant right there?_ was one question going through his head, but the more pressing question: Why was Rose inquiring about Canwood? And they should really have picked a better spot for a conversation like this. It wasn't good to talk in the open, there could be people listening in. . . _like him_. . . not that he was complaining.

"I know it's called Snakebitten. . ." said Rose quietly.

"Yeah. Okay, I admit I don't know too much either but the owner of our coffee shop has been 'bitten' as we say. She's now just super corrupt and we have to deal with all these 'dangerous' people who are most likely criminals of some sort coming in the store and dealing drugs and taking money from the till. This gang has actually bitten most of the stores on our street and in the area."

"Oh. _Wow_," commented Rose.

"Anyway, just be careful what you say in the store. The girl I work with, Katrina, she spends some time with a couple members of the gang. . . and it's just, you never know."

"Alright. Does. . . Canwood come into the store often?"

"Well, usually. But I haven't seen him for quite some time now. I'm sure he'll be back soon though, he does like the banana cakes," Courtney said with a bitter laugh.

Scorpius knew why Canwood hadn't been going to the café lately. He stored that thought in the back of his head.

"Do you by any chance know where he lives?"

Courtney shook her head. "No, I don't want to get involved in the whole thing. I don't know how much longer I'll be working at Kooks. It's really turning into a place where I don't want to be."

"Well, thank you," Rose said. "I've been meaning to come back into the store, but. . . umm haven't really gotten around to it."

"Just be careful next time you do. I don't know what will happen if that lady's back in there, or someone else who is instructed to look for you since you mentioned Canwood's name. I think he's someone kind of important."

Courtney hesitated for a few seconds before she reached into her wallet and pulled out a crumpled up piece of paper and a pen. "If you. . . if you have any more questions or anything. Here's my cell number. You can text, or call. Just, well I don't mean to be rude again or anything, but be careful with that paper."

Rose pocketed it. "Thanks. I will be careful. Do you happen to know the time?"

"I think it was around one o' clock when I left the store."

"Oh. _Shit_." Rose looked around her quickly and sighed. "I better leave. I was supposed to meet someone at one. I might. . . text with some questions some time."

"Okay, yeah, no problem. I'll talk to you later I guess."

Courtney gave a small wave and turned away, walking down the street. Rose stood waiting in the street for a couple of moments for Courtney to get out of sight and then turned towards the alley that Scorpius was situated in.

"Oh bloody hell," Scorpius muttered. He dropped to his knees and disregarding the state of his trousers and shirt that he had so carefully picked out, he crawled behind the dirty bins to the back of the alley so he could apparate back to the restaurant before Rose saw him, or worse, beat him there.

So he was seated, cool and collect on the outside, freshly washed hands and cleaned trousers, already had a fresh cup of coffee that he had grabbed on his way through the kitchen, and a newspaper he wasn't reading open on his lap when Rose came in the restaurant. On the outside he was the epitome of calm. Inside though, he suddenly felt nervous. Nervous and excited for some reason. He didn't know why he was getting jitters now, this was just _Weasley_. It wasn't like she was some deranged man who didn't know the different between a hammer and a hand (happened three months ago).

Rose had put on a black tuque somewhere between the alley and the restaurant that was pulled down to her eyebrows and covering all her hair. She looked flustered as she looked around the room, finally spotting him in the back corner. She walked straight to him at a fast pace, not looking around her at the room or anybody who was eating.

"Was it a bluff?" she said, standing in front of him, hands on her hips. Scorpius looked her over a few times. Now that she was right in front of him, she seemed different for some reason. He hadn't focused too much when he was hidden in the alley a few minutes ago nor when they were together the previous time.

"Pull up a chair Weasley. You're not getting out of this so easy."

"Was it a bluff?" she repeated. "Could you actually find me in the streets of London?"

He narrowed his eyes. She was insufferable sometimes. He wasn't going to give up the secret_ that_ easy. "Why don't you just hope you never have to find out." He gestured to the chair opposite him.

"Malfoy. I'm really not hungry and need to get on my way. All I want to know is if you can actually trace people if you have no idea where they are."

He knew what was different now. Her clothes were baggy on her. She was looking thin. He was going to buy her two lunches today.

There were a few ways he could approach this, the first was to say what he knew – that she was looking for Canwood, without telling her how he knew. She was looking for information and he could see if he could worm out the _why_ in the whole thing. Because he couldn't just let her go after him. He was dangerous and she would probably get hurt by someone in the Snakebitten gang before she even got a whiff of Canwood. The second, perhaps less mature way was that he could continue to antagonize her, for he did enjoy pushing her buttons. The only thing about that approach was that she probably would react differently now than four years ago. He didn't want to make her hate him more or make her run.

Perhaps it was time for a civil conversation for the very first time, if that was possible. He was an adult now for goodness sake, not the highly opinionated boy he had been back at Hogwarts. Option one then.

"I know you're looking for Canwood."

A nuclear bomb couldn't have detonated as fast, she sat down with a thump on the chair. She didn't say anything though. She stared at him with a slight furrow in her eyebrows. Internally Scorpius groaned at her, she shouldn't have made it so obvious that his statement meant something to her. She wasn't playing the _game_ right.

Mackenzie came by. "Can I get you anything to drink?" she asked Rose. Rose finally pulled the tuque off her head. And rubbed some of her curls down so they weren't sticking outrageously up.

"Just – water please," she said giving a small smile to her.

"You know you can get coffee if you'd like, or even – wine," said Scorpius after Mackenzie left.

"No. Water's fine."

She was getting just water? Seriously? The prices here weren't too bad. Rose's shoulders were tense and her whole body was displaying how uncomfortable she was. She seemed almost like a cat right now, as if her fur was all raised and she was on the defense. If she started hissing the picture would be complete. Scorpius thought the chances were decent, especially with him seated across from her.

"I'm paying the tab, so get whatever you'd like." This was his chance to show her that he could be a gentleman and mature for once. He slighly puffed out his chest without even realizing it.

She raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms. "No. You aren't."

Scorpius deflated and looked at her in surprise. "I invited you here, I picked the place, I pay. It's common courtesy."

"No. You won't. I'll pay for what I get myself. How do you know Canwood?"

Was she this stubborn back at Hogwarts? Albus was right, he probably shouldn't even have mentioned it. He handed her the menu.

"How do I know Canwood. . . let's see. . . I know the stupid bastard because he almost burnt off my arm with a stinging hex a month ago."

_Let's see what she makes of that_, he thought. Scorpius took a sip of his coffee and watched her, letting her make the next move. He had the power right now in the conversation. He had information she wanted.

Before she could reply Mackenzie came back with water. "Are you guys ready to order? The special this week is spiced Greek souvlaki salad or wraps."

Scorpius looked at Rose and raised his eyebrows. Her face turned red as she flipped the menu back and forth.

"Can I just get half a bowl of soup? I'm. . . I'm not that hungry."

"Actually, I'll order for the both of us then," Scorpius interrupted. "Can we have two specials, one salad and one wrap – they are quite good Weasley and I know you will like them. Can we also get the stuffed peppers? That should be all. Do you still want the soup?"

"I don't want any of that! I can't aff – " she stopped herself. "Soup is good for me. That's all I need."

"Bring the soup as well – but let's make it a full bowl. Thanks Mackenzie."

Mackenzie looked a little unsure as she looked between the two. Rose's face was slowly getting redder and he of course, on the outside, was the epitome of calm. He winked at Mackenzie and she gave a reluctant nod and went to the kitchens.

Rose's hands were clenched tight around the menu, her knuckles white. "I will leave right now. Malfoy I can't – You're not paying for me. I'll leave right now."

"She's already telling Albus and Avani the order and they've probably already started making it. You would walk out now? And you can't what?"

She turned her face away from his and set down the menu, staring at it without a word. Scorpius internally smiled, he was good. So good. She wanted to leave but at the same time she needed to stay. Scorpius didn't quite understand why she would care if he paid for her. It didn't look like she was eating well anyway and he had plenty of money to go around. He didn't say that to her though, that was probably a little too rude and obtrusive.

After a few minutes of her not saying anything Scorpius decided to tell a little white lie to appease her worries. "If you're family or friends, the first meal is free. So you don't have to pay today. I've already talked to Albus and Mackenzie about it."

Rose let out a shaky breath, but looked relieved. "Really? But they just opened up not too long ago. . ."

"Don't worry about it. We'll go to the kitchen after. You can discuss it with Al."

Rose leaned her head on the hands and looked out the window. She seemed to be fiddling with something on her wrist. She didn't look at him when she asked her next question.

"What do you know about Canwood then?"

"I know he's someone who you should stay away from. He's a dangerous person and rather sneaky for all the weight he carries around."

"Just, please, don't act like you care. I know you don't. Let's pass all that bullshit and how about you just give me information. Where he lives or something. . . "

That stung him. He did care. He just didn't know how to interact with her to show it. He was paying for her food, that was care? She didn't accept it. He thought she was getting into unstable situations and wanted to steer her clear of where she was going. He was warning her about Canwood. That was care, wasn't it? There _was_ something else important he could tell her, but he decided to save it for later.

"All information comes with a price."

She turned her head towards him and looked him in the eyes. Her blue eyes looked scared.

"What do you want?" she said quietly.

Why did she seem so desperate? Why did she want to know where Canwood was so bad? The Ministry didn't even care about him right now; there were more important people out there.

The only thing that was coming to Scorpius's mind was that someone was paying her to get information on Canwood. It would make sense if she was short of money. But he knew Rose wasn't that stupid to accept payment for something like that. What could be other motives though? He couldn't think of anything.

Just looking at how she was acting and reacting right now he almost felt sorry he was putting her in this position. But how else was he supposed to talk to her and keep her here? It was like she was a stranger.

"Information for information."

She drew back in her chair. At the same moment their food was brought out.

"Bon appetit," Mackenzie said cheerfully. "Let me know if you two need anything else."

Their small table was plump with food. Rose stared at it all with wide eyes. "I think you ordered too much food," she said.

Scorpius's stomach growled. "No, I'm hungry. Do you want the salad or the wrap? You have five seconds before I choose. I can eat either."

Rose hesitated. Scorpius gestured impatiently with his hands and Rose cautiously drew back the wrap.

"Excellent," he said. "I'll have the salad."

The food smelled amazing and he just wanted to scarf it down immediately. He loved this restaurant and Albus's cooking. He was never moving out; he and Albus were roommates for life. Albus had no say in the matter.

However, he did have table manners and they were in public right now. His parents would be so ashamed of him; since he'd moved out from home he was becoming, well he was becoming more 'wild' almost. Sometimes he completely disregarded his table manners. He was a large guy; he needed a lot of food to nourish him. He could recall one of the times when he was in the field where he was trapped in a predicament where he was stuck for over 30 hours without food or water. He could appreciate what was in front of him at the moment. And at the moment his stomach was growling.

Rose seemed to be just as hungry as him. Within next to no time the table was empty. They didn't speak at all whilst eating, too focused on food. Scorpius was glad, the last time he was at a restaurant with a girl, she wouldn't shut up and she barely ate anything off her plate before she said she was full. He hadn't taken out a girl since.

Rose had loosened up. Her shoulders were noticeably less tense and she was leaning back in her chair looking content as she looked out the window. He was staring at her again.

"I can't give you information. Is there anything else we can. . . _trade_?" she asked. She picked up her glass and swirled the water around, the ice clinking against the sides.

Oooh, she set that up. He shouldn't. . . but it was too tempting.

"Sex."

A spray of ice water hit his face. He should have waited for her to put her glass down before he said it. Why did he say that again? It was the food and a full belly that made him say it. He was getting comfortable. _Bloody Hell_. They weren't ready for comfortable in their - whatever they were. Aquaintances? Friends of friends? Previous school rivals? People who knew eachother but didn't really _know_ eachother? People with too much history to classify them? Possibly. Enemies? No, not enemies.

"So I take that as a no?" He started wiping the water off his face with the napkin.

"You're disgusting."

He shrugged, trying to think of a way to fix it. "I was just curious as to what you would say."

She glared at him. "And what would you have done if I said yes?" Her voice was higher. She was trying to control her temper.

If she said yes. . . _Holy hell_. Possibilities flew threw his mind. . .

. . . snogging Rose, slipping her shirt from her shoulder. . . unraveling the bun on her head. . . red curls cascading down her naked body. . . but he couldn't. Why did he think that? He didn't fancy her at all. _It was Weasley!_ But his mind wouldn't stop thinking of it so to distract himself from that HUGE and DANGEROUS train of thought he said reflexively, "turn you down of course. Sex with me would be so mindblowing you wouldn't be able to stay away. I have no time for clingy girls."

He needed more food to distract his mouth. Why the hell did he say that end part? He was botching everything up. _Shit._ They needed to get out of the restaurant before he said something else stupid. He signaled Mackenzie to come with the bill.

Rose leaned forward, put her elbows on the table and covered her face in her hands. She then moved her hands to her hair and gripped it in frustration. "Malfoy. Seriously. Can you be mature for once. You're how fucking old?"

He just about called her on her language. THANK MERLIN he managed to hold it in. Holy hell he was getting more nervous by the second. He was afraid his epitome of calmness on the outside was finally leaking away. Thankfully Mackenzie covertly dropped the bill on the table and Scorpius swiped it up before Rose could blink.

"Shall we go visit Al? He's just through the doors there. We'll continue our discussion out of this place. I'll meet you, I just have to pay for my meal first."

He left her sitting while he paid Mackenzie and when he turned around Rose was already gone.

He walked through the doors to see Rose shaking hands with Avani. Rose and Scorpius stayed for half an hour, talking, while the cooks slowly cooked and started cleaning up around them. The busy lunch hour was over and it was just the few stragglers left who were eating a late lunch. Since Avani was a very approachable and outgoing person, Rose was laughing in no time. Scorpius couldn't stop looking at Rose. She acted so different when she was comfortable; he preferred _this_ Rose.

When they took the back entrance out and it was just the two of them alone he could just _feel _Rose hide behind her barriers again. It was frustrating. Even more so because he knew they were there because it was him.

"Obviously you're not going to tell me anything. I need to be somewhere, so goodbye." Rose pulled out her wand to apparate away when Scorpius blurted out what he had known the whole time. _It's not just so she will stay longer_, he told himself.

"Canwood's not in London. He hasn't even been here for the past few weeks. He's in Poland."

Rose's wand clattered to the ground. She looked at him, shocked.

She wasn't leaving, he had her interest again. Good.


	16. An announcement and an argument

September 29, 2026

* * *

><p>She couldn't stop thinking of Canwood. And her contract. And her bracelet. . . her hand. . . her fingers. It was just a loop in her head. Around and around it went. One bad thing after another. Something that could be applied to her life, in retrospect. She always got kicked down.<p>

But then she always got back up.

It was without a doubt one of the worst things Scorpius could have told her. She thought she was finally getting the hang of 'bounty hunting,' but she was further than she thought.

Rose was now sitting at the kitchen table back at her flat. She couldn't quite remember how she got there. She remembered walking away from Scorpius.

"_What are you talking about?" Rose had blurted out._

"_You're looking for Canwood, but he's not here. He's been gone for two weeks," Scorpius told her. He looked confused by her reaction. What did he expect, that she would jump for joy? That she would be ecstatic that what she had been doing the past two weeks was essentially worthless? That her next few months were entirely focused on the finding of a man that wasn't even in London!? _

"_How do you know that? Maybe he made everyone think he was going but then didn't actually go." She was fishing here! For anything! They both were still in the alley behind The Cricket on your Hearth. Why did it have to be Scorpius of all people who held the information she needed? _

"_No, he's gone. He went with three other members of Snakebitten. It was a trip that was planned months ago." Rose could have almost burst out crying right then and there. Scorpius must have realized that or just decided to add in freely, "he'll be back in about two weeks, on October 16. He's got a big meeting with the Snakebitten leader, a man called Gradford that day."_

_Two weeks! That was too much time when the clock was ticking down month by month, week by week, day by day, and hour by hour. It was almost October and she was practically back where she started at in the beginning of September._

It was nearing six o' clock at night. Rose was sure she hadn't moved from her position for a few hours. She had remained sitting, tense, but breathing in low deep breaths. She could almost say she was in a sort of meditation, but her body wasn't relaxed enough, and neither was her brain. She was trying so hard not to think of everything, but it was all that came up. On an even worse note, her bracelet was now tight enough that she could barely pull it over her thumb.

"_Do you know where in Poland he is?"_

_Scorpius looked apologetic as he stood with his hands in his pockets, watching her as she tried to avoid a meltdown. Of all people to see her break down, Scorpius would _not_ be one of them. She didn't like showing weaknesses. She could hold it in._

"_No. . . from what I heard, it was just Poland. I have to stay in England so it wasn't imperative I found out the town name."_

_She was starting to experience shock, or something like it. She felt as if she were in a plastic bubble, the world turning hazy and unfocused. She nodded at Scorpius – or maybe she imagined that part before she started walking away. _

_She just needed to be alone to process and decide what to do. She could recall someone talking to her – most likely Scorpius – but she didn't reply back, too focused on the spot over the horizon as she was moving._

Now she found herself alone at her flat. She was sure she didn't walk the whole distance from the restaurant. She couldn't exactly remember it though. She was sure Scorpius had something to do with it as he was the last one she had 'seen' and his latest tendency seemed to be getting her back to her flat in one piece.

Being alone for a few hours had helped her mind calm down more. The world was more focused. She continued to push through the haziness to keep her mind sane. The voices Greg and Marta were jibber jabbering away in her head but Rose was sick of it. She was tired of having an internal monologue and wasn't listening to what they were saying. Her head was getting sore.

Without warning she suddenly stood up, breaking the continuous thought loop. After splashing her face with water to get out of her reverie, she walked to her room, turned out the lights, shut the door, and curled up on the bed. She fell into a restless sleep.

Rose dreamed. She was a butterfly, flitting back and forth in irregular patterns. She was flying over the ocean, an expanse of blue lay before her and behind her. She didn't know which direction land was; she had forgotten where she came from. Her wings were getting tired and she was going lower and lower. When she eventually touched the water she was transported to a rocky terrain. She was herself, but she had no clothes on. She tripped on the ground, the ground veering closer and closer. A pair of black eyes appeared on the rock right before she hit her head. She felt she knew those eyes from somewhere. There was a ringing in the background. She could hear angry voices speak, softly and then loudly; the voices were arguing. The voices faded a little as the ground turned green and grassy under her.

Rose started tossing and turning. She half woke up and could still hear angry voices, only they were louder than in her dream. She shut her eyes again, getting pulled back into dreamland.

She didn't get far in, only scavenging in the wild with her pet tiger when a phone ringing jolted her out of the dream again. Only a few seconds later – to her, but more realistically about half an hour later there was a knocking on the door. Her mind only fully registered it when the two people who barreled into her room jumped on her bed. She awoke with a start. She wasn't surrounded by grassy fields, fresh air, and sun any longer. She was surrounded by orange sheets, a blue pillowcase, and darkness.

"Rose! Wakey wakey!"

"Yeah, why are you sleeping? It's only like eight at night!"

Oh, she felt so groggy. She had been sleeping on her stomach and there were two heavy weights on her legs. She rubbed her eyes and tried to open them, turning her head around to see her two cousins, Lily and Roxanne, who were sitting on her bed and lightly bouncing up and down. No, correction, they were on her legs, they were the heavy weights.

"What – what are you two doing here?"

"You mean we can't come see out sleepy cousin whenever we want. I'm so hurt," said Roxanne. She was wearing her Quidditch jumper of the Falmouth Falcons and stretchy black trousers. "You have major bed head right now. Lily came to fix your hair, make it less hurricaneish."

It was funny that Roxanne would comment on hair, because with her tightly wound black curls she usually had crazier hair than Rose on most days.

"Actually," Lily said, shushing Roxanne, "I have news I came to share when everyone is together. So come to the table. Rox even brought banana bread!"

"Baked it myself this morning! It's the first time I didn't set off the fire alarm too," she said proudly.

Rose smiled at Roxanne and then half lifted her torso off the bed to stretch. "I won't be able to get up until you two get off my legs."

She propped her head up and watched as Roxanne rolled herself off the bed backwards, flipping her legs over her head and landing on her feet. Lily was wearing a light flowery blue dress so she pushed herself off normally. She commented, "if you didn't have such a small bed we could have sat elsewhere other than your legs. Your feet totally stick off the end. That's got to be annoying."

Lily and Roxanne were almost the shortest in the family, the only person smaller was Dominique. They had probably never had the problem of short beds and feet getting cold by sticking out.

Rose sat up and stretched her legs out in front of her. "I haven't noticed so far and I really don't mind. I can sleep anywhere."

"Lucky. I have to have at least five pillows and a super soft bed!" said Roxanne as she went skipping from the room. Lily followed her, flicking on the light with an evil grin as she left the room.

Rose shut her eyes again. The light was so bright.

She felt better. Well, perhaps that was a bit of an understatement. But she knew she couldn't go to Poland. It would be like looking for a bobby pin in a haystack and she would get nowhere in two weeks. She could, however, stay in London and try to find more information. Perhaps where Canwood lived, or more information about the gang and where they operated.

She smoothed out her well-worn trousers and stretched again, this time heading to the kitchen to where everyone was: Lily, Molly, Roxanne, Lucy, and now her. Dominique and Victoire were nowhere to be seen though. Everyone was chatting freely and Molly was at the stove cooking something that smelt amazingly like chocolate. Roxanne was digging through the cupboards.

Lucy nodded at Rose as she walked in. "Now we just need Dominique. Where the hell is she?"

"And Vicsters, when's she showing up?" asked Roxanne with a mouth full of crackers.

"Tory couldn't make it. It's her and Teddy's monthly date night. Apparently their sitter is busy most of the time and it's hard to find someone else that doesn't run screaming from the kids." Lily told them all. "It's just Dominique we're waiting for. She's not at work, is she? I hope she got my message."

Molly brought a wine bottle to the table and started filling up all the glasses.

"I'm sure she saw your message. I sent a note up to the roof like twenty minutes ago. Lucy can you go up and check if she can come down? I walked by the potions lab at Mungos before I left but she wasn't there, so I'm assuming she's up top."

Lucy sighed and rolled her head towards Rose. "Rose you're standing. Go check."

"Lucy you're so lazzyyy," commented Roxanne as she pulled on a particular springy piece of black hair that was dangling in front of her eyes. "At least some things will never change!"

"Please Rose!" begged Lucy. "I'm already sitting _and_ I had to work all day. The boy in spell damages vomited over me, some idiot parent gave their child that Bogles Brilliant Bogies candy and the kid was blowing out bogies the size of watermelon. . . "

Lily scrunched her nose up. "Too much information! Ew, go Rose before she mentions some other disgusting thing that happened at work."

Rose sighed. "Alright, alright."

She went to the roof, where, to her surprise a big gust of cold wind blew in her face as soon as she poked her head out the top.

_So that's another reason why Lucy didn't want to go_, thought Rose.

She raced the wind to the potion shack and ducked inside.

"Dominique? Dom?" she called out. It was very warm inside. This was Rose's first time in the wooden shack and so everything was new to her. There were so many containers with different ingredients on shelves and everything looked a little disorganized, surprisingly. There was some half cut up rat tails lying on the counter, a powdered green leafy looking thing that was dumped and half spread out, and some spilt liquid dripping on the floor. She walked forwards looking around her.

"Dom?" she called again. Perhaps she wasn't here? Rose walked forwards to where she could see some white steam coming from a cauldron on the workbench. There was a spoon sticking out of it and a cup, a knife, and a few open containers of supplies around it. Rose put her hand beside the cauldron. It was warm. Dominique had to be here if she was monitoring a potion.

There was a door to the left of her and she slowly pushed open the door to the small greenhouse. She found Dominique lying on the floor.

"Uh, what are you doing. . .?" Rose asked. Dominique had dirt smudged on one of her cheeks from the floor, her lips looked like they were covered with a white powder, and her bangs were slicked to the side with sweat.

Dominique wasn't moving, but Rose could hear her breathing. Was she sleeping?

After jostling her around and pushing her shoulder. Dominique's eyes opened finally. She had no pupils.

Rose jumped back a moment in surprise, scared for a moment of the look of her eyes. "Dom what you doing!" said Rose. She felt a little worried, what was with her eyes?

After blinking for probably five minutes straight with a vacant expression on her face, the black pupils finally came back and Dominique grinned at Rose, leaving it there without saying anything. She still stared straight ahead.

"Dom! Are you okay?" There was no response, verbal or physical from Dominique.

Hesitating, because this was her cousin – but something not right was going on – Rose slapped Dominique. Not hard, but just enough that the grin was taken off of Dom's face and she groaned, closing her eyes and finally showing movement. She brought her hands to her face and started pinching her cheeks. She finally seemed to notice Rose kneeling beside her and sat up straight.

"I was sleeping. I had a weird dream. Nothing funny is going on," Dominqiue said really quickly. She sounded defensive. "What are you doing up here?"

"Roxanne and Lily are here. Lily has some big news and we're all waiting for you in the kitchen. Are you okay? That was very – "

Dominique pushed Rose away and got up and ran to her workroom before Rose could finish speaking. Rose followed slowly.

"Give warning next time," said Dominique angrily. She was pushing her cauldron inside a cupboard and locking it with her wand, closing containers, and putting away the cup and knife. "This is a PRIVATE place and it's dangerous for inexperienced people. You almost freaking failed potions at Hogwarts. You shouldn't be up here _at all_."

"Well Molly said she sent up a note some time ago. . . but I'm sorry. . . I – we're all waiting for you and nobody wanted to come – "

"Whatever." Dominique turned to leave and holding open the door, she locked it behind Rose. "I have to shower. Cover for me." Dominique then hesitated and added, "don't mention what just happened. I'm sorry I snapped at you. I don't like falling asleep up here. . . in the middle of brewing."

Dominique turned to Rose and looked at her steadily. Rose fidgeted under her gaze. "Yeah, okay. I won't say anything."

Why did Rose have a feeling that Dominique was hiding something from everyone?

_Just like you are?_ said Marta. _Everyone has their secrets. It's not your job to go scout them out._

She knew that. But still. She paused halfway across the roof, feeling a weird urge to go back into the lab, but then she ignored it, probably because it was locked by Dominique herself and she should respect Dom's space.

She made her way back to the flat and joined her cousins at the table. They asked why Dominique had run to the loo as soon as she entered and true to her word, Rose covered for her. When Dominique emerged from the shower a little bit later, her mood had drastically improved. In fact, when compared to how she was fifteen minutes ago, she seemed like a completely different person.

Lily stood up.

"Alright!" she said, swirling her wine glass around in her hand and beaming at everyone. "I have an announcement."

"Spill it already, you've been hinting at it for hours!" Roxanne exclaimed.

Looking around at everyone, Lily said, "I'm engaged! Julien proposed today!"

Dominique's eyes widened and there was a moment of silence as everyone stood staring. Then Roxanne and Molly squealed, Lucy muttered, "no freakin' way," and Rose clapped her hands to her face in surprise.

"Congratulations!" she and Lucy both chimed in at the same time. Similar felicitations were echoed around the room. Lily's naturally rosy cheeks tinged red at the praise everyone was saying. She held herself proudly as everyone gave her a hug.

"Well, how'd he do it!" asked Dominique.

"Yeah, spill!" chimed in Molly excitedly.

Lily grinned and sipped her wine. "It was one of the most random ways for him to have done it, but incredibly cute! We had this day marked on the calendar for the past few weeks for a get together and Julien wouldn't listen to my suggestions for anything and said he had a surprise planned. So this afternoon the surprise was tandem biking around the park and then a picnic on the grass. He packed this gorgeous meal in a basket – all home cooked. Then – well it was so cheesy but so adorable – he gave me a cupcake _and_ in the middle was my ring." Lily held out her hand to show the ring. It was a diamond rose formed on a plain silver band. It was simple but it was lovely.

"Lucky you didn't eat the ring," commented Lucy.

"He said he was terribly worried I would swallow it. But I don't know. I almost want to say I was expecting it. . . the way he was acting and he just seemed jittery the whole picnic and made this huge deal about planning it and cooking the food. I kind of was waiting for something big."

"He _would_ ruin the moment. Julien has never really had any huge confidence with that sort of thing."

"No, it wasn't ruined!" Lily exclaimed to Dom. "It was incredibly sweet. And it was totally him."

Molly was smiling and was gazing at Lily in rapt attention. Molly was a romantic at heart. Rose knew she was waiting for the day she got married and started a family.

Lily though, Lily was a down to earth girl and Rose knew she would be happy with Julien. Rose could only briefly remember Julien from Hogwarts. He was a boy who had been completely smitten with Lily, but was one of those guys who was too shy to ever ask her out. He did find the nerve a few months after their graduation when he inadvertently went to the hair salon where she worked and asked her then.

"God you make me feel old. I'm 25 and I haven't even thought about marriage and all that. It was the same with Tory and now she's got four flippin' kids. Everyone's getting old around me!" said Roxanne. "But you Lily, you're so young still, only 19! Are you sure you want to marry Julien? I mean you have your whole life ahead of you still."

Lily was twirling her ring around her finger as she answered Roxanne. "I know I am. I honestly love him. So much. I can't even imagine being with or seeing anyone else. He's a keeper for me. Really."

Roxanne raised her glass. "Cheers then little cousin. I look forward to little. . . oh what's his last name again?"

"It was Pellerin, wasn't it?" asked Rose. When Lily nodded, Rose was pretty impressed with herself. "I can't believe I remember that, that was quite some time ago."

"Ooh. Right," said Roxanne. "Well I look forward to little Pellerin-Potters running around in the future! Nana and Grandad will be happy, that's for sure! You're parents too."

Lily blushed. "I don't think we're going to have kids right away. I mean I still think I'm really young in _that_ aspect, I don't want to have a family quite yet. What I gathered you all here for, and what I really wanted to really ask you all though, is if you would all be my bridesmaids?"

There was more squealing.

"Of course we will!" Molly spoke for them all.

"You better not be a bridezilla," Dominique stated plainly.

Lucy and Roxanne burst out laughing. "Lily will not be a bridezilla!" Lucy said. "Out of all of us, the one most likely will be you!"

Dominique started vehemently denying it, but Roxanne cut her off.

"It will be you! No question! Out of everyone here you will be just downright horrible Dom. Lily will be _very_ easy going and chill about it," said Roxanne and then finished her drink. "Actually, Molly will be fairly down to earth too when she eventually gets married. And if Lucy and Rose and I get married sometime in the future, it will be even better because none of us _really_ care about the little details and all that stuff."

Rose grinned. "I feel like you, Rox, might be a bridezilla too. Though I think you hide it very well. Definitely not as much as Dom, but still a small one for sure."

Roxanne scoffed. "Oh, no way."

"Oh really," said Lucy smartly. "I remember Fred talking about those purple zebra spotted dress robes he found in the attic that he said he was going to wear to your wedding."

"What! He's not wearing them to _my_ wedding! Are you kidding me? If you two are so easy going then he can wear them to _yours_!"

Rose and Lucy both looked at each other and shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Sure," said Rose. She honestly could care less if everyone came dressed in colourful animal print. She did draw the line at nude though, she didn't want to see naked family members at all.

Lily laughed. "That backfired on you!"

"When are you planning on having the wedding?" asked Dominique.

"I don't know actually. I mean he just asked today. We're meeting with my parents and his parents tomorrow to tell them the news. I just had to tell you guys beforehand. But. . . I've always fancied a winter wedding. It's kind of unique. I just don't like the cold that much. It'll be a spring wedding otherwise. I'm going to talk it out with Julien later."

Rose froze, a cold feeling creeping up on the happiness she felt for Lily. She might not even be around for the wedding. She felt her heart give a pang. It was a horrible feeling. She didn't want to dwell on that thought and pushed everything away for the moment. This was Lily's happy moment. Not a mope fest for her.

Dominique drained the remainder of the wine in her glass and checked the bottle on the table. "We need more wine! White or Red?"

"White," said Lucy at the same time Molly said, "red."

"Well, I'll just get both and we'll have ourselves a lovely Tuesday evening."

And it was. They polished off both bottles and ate Roxanne's banana bread and the few other appetizers that Molly set out while talking about the upcoming nuptials. Lorcan was brought up because he was seeing Molly right now, and everyone wanted to know how Rose's lunch with Scorpius went. They discussed venue options, bridesmaid dress colours, caterers, and reminisced of old times. In fact, it was a very fine Tuesday evening up until the phone rang.

The sound pierced through the air and everyone slowly stopped talking to listen to the ringing. Almost everyone was more than a little tipsy except Lucy because she was never a big drinker.

Roxanne hiccupped loudly as Dominique said, "the phone's ringing? Who the heckle is calling us?"

Molly and Lucy were looking at each other with an indiscernible look. Lucy had her eyes narrowed at Molly as Molly slowly got up and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

Everyone stayed quiet, listening in.

"If this is my mum, we aren't home," whispered Lily. "Shhh everyone. . ."

But that was the end of the phone conversation for Molly didn't say anything else. She hung up the phone and sat back down at the table.

"Who was that? Wrong number?" asked Roxanne.

Molly looked nervously at Lucy.

"Oh. . . just nobody important. Where were we again?"

Nobody said anything. Lucy started tapping her fingers on the table, very quickly.

"Don't Lucy," Molly said quietly.

Lucy kept her fingers tapping; she looked around at everyone, deliberating.

"This is ridiculous."

"It's not important right now," Molly replied back with a severe look that Lucy just brushed off.

The phone then started ringing again. Lucy's fingers didn't stop moving.

"I can go –" Rose started off but was cut off by a yell of "NO!" from Molly who jumped up and unplugged the phone from the wall without answering.

Lily and Dominique were looking curiously at Molly who was still looking intently at Lucy as she sat down.

"Lucy. . . " Molly warned.

"No. You know what? This is stupid. You want to know who just called?" she asked everyone at the table. " – and who calls every damn night multiple times?"

"Oh snap," muttered Roxanne. "Twin fight!"

"Lucy don't you dare say anything! We talked about this. Just don't bring it up!" cried out Molly with a glare to Roxanne.

"Why?" she replied angrily. "Why shouldn't I? You were _so_ forthcoming before, so I'll ask again. Why shouldn't I?"

"Just. . . because. Don't do it, it won't help anything." It was a weak argument and Molly knew it.

Lucy ignored Molly. "That's no answer." Lucy turned to Rose. "Rose. Do you want to know who keeps calling our flat and saying weird things, breathing heavily or talking in different voices over the phone?"

They were asking her? She didn't want to get involved! "Uh, I don't know? It doesn't really matter I guess. . . " Molly gave her a frantic look. Rose was never really at the flat so it hadn't annoyed her as much as Lucy was apparently annoyed now. She mostly ignored the phone now since her encounter with Daphne. The few times she did answer, it was a wrong number because no one ever said anything on the other end of the line. . . She didn't really think much of it or let it worry her.

"Well you should care." Lucy was looking intently at her. "Because it's your pshyco ex, Danny. He's an idiot if he thinks we can't tell who it is. He's using your old cell phone and there's caller ID on the telephone answering machine. He's the one who keeps 'prank calling' or whatever the freaking hell it is that he's doing."

Fuck.

Rose felt numb, literally numb. There were only so many emotions she could deal with in one day.

_That bastard,_ said Greg. _Finally we'll give him what he deserves_.

_It's probably a mistake, don't get irrational. Just check to make sure_, advised Marta.

Rose's stood up abruptly. "You have caller ID? Where is it?"

"Oh snappity snap. . ." Roxanne said quietly. "Someone's in trouble. I'm pretty sure I've never met this guy. What's he like?"

Rose didn't hear Dominique's reply as Molly lead her to the answering machine and showed her how to work it. Rose was angry, but calm. She just needed to see proof. . . she could feel her ears burning with heat. She was brewing on the inside, slowly but surely.

Rose flicked through the caller ID a few times. Sure enough she recognized the number instantly and it cropped up numerous times the longer she was looking.

"Molly, your handbag has an undetectable extension charm on it, right? Do you think I could borrow it?"

"Yes. . . " Molly said slowly. "We can go to the muggle phone company tomorrow and get the number blocked. Or even better we can disconnect the number since it's _your_ phone. Okay? Rose?"

She was already putting on her sandals and a coat to combat the wind. She grabbed Molly's handbag on the shelf. Rose could hear her cousins talking quietly in the kitchen still and was trying to be extra quiet so they didn't hear her trying to leave. "I'll be back. Don't follow me. Don't tell anyone where I went, don't come and – "

"Oh please," Lucy interrupted. She came to stand in the doorway, leaning with one arm against the doorframe, looking at Rose. "We know where you're going. Obviously."

Lily poked her head up underneath Lucy's arm. "Yeah. And you don't look very healthy right now."

"Face as red as a beat." Roxanne came to join them. "But whether that's because of the wine or your ex, it's hard to tell. You need backup."

Roxanne and Lucy started moving forwards to grab their coats.

Shit. She didn't want them to come with her. "No. No. And no." Rose waved her arms at them. "This is something I need to do alone. I've left things hanging and I need to face him on my own."

"We're here to help," said Molly in a small voice. "That's what family is for. We help each other through the bad things."

Rose could just _hear_ the double innuendo in Molly's voice. As much as she loved all her cousins, who were more like sisters really, she didn't want any of them to come; she needed to face this by herself. She needed to stop running from everything. In addition, Rose was. . . embarrassed about him. She didn't want any of her cousins to see Danny and how he was right now. Mentally he had lost himself. He was a complete mess. It was not a good place for them. It would be easier to deal with everything by herself.

"Just give me half an hour. That's all I need and if I'm not back by then then you can come and see what's happening. Not now. This is between Danny and I, it's just – hard to explain. _Please_ though."

She had her hand on the doorknob, ready to run out if they insisted on coming.

_You can't keep denying people who just want to help you. They all care about you, _Marta said.

Greg responded quickly. _She can deny them if she knows it won't be pretty. She doesn't want anyone to get hurt. You're in the right, love, _he told her.

"Clock's starting now," Dominique stated. "Go."

Rose raced out of the flat.

"Does anyone even know where the house is she's going to?" asked Lily as she was putting her auburn hair into a ponytail. "I've never been there."

"Err. . . " They all looked at each other in surprise, hoping someone would say something.

"Lucy you've been there! Don't tell me we just let her race off to someplace and we don't even know where it is!" Molly exclaimed.

She gaped at everyone. "Only one time! And it was last year. I remember the general area where it was. . . but not the house. My memory isn't_ that_ great."

There was another big pause as everyone stood standing in the entrance like lumps on a log.

"Oh _bloody hell_. . . !"


	17. An old house and an undamaged camera

September 29. 2026

* * *

><p>Rose stood before her old house. It was weird to think that she hadn't entered in almost two months; the time flew by with empty promises she made to herself to come back and get her possessions. Everything she owned was there. <em>She was finally going back in.<em>

It was a house that could be described as old: the white paint was peeling around the door and some of the windows were cracked. It was a two-story house and it even had the old style shutters on the bottom halves of the windows with no glass under them. The house really hadn't been updated in a long time.

To tell the truth, Rose was actually quite fond of the house, just not its sole inhabitant right now. She liked how the house was a fixer-upper and that there was the potential for so many stories in its old age. Looking from the outside in, she could envision the house in a different time and different age. Perhaps an old happily married couple lived there at one point, or a young family just getting started. She had one good picture of the house with the sun rising in the background that seemed to transport the whole scene to the 1600's.

Rose never would have thought she cared about houses or what sort of house she ever wanted to live in, but when her mind was wandering, as it was wont to do when she lived there, those thoughts helped keep her mind occupied; away from the bad memories.

When she and Danny moved to England and were looking for a house, even though Danny was estranged from his parents, his parents let the two of them move in with a very generous rent. This house actually belonged to Danny's deceased grandfather, though nobody had lived there in years and years. The two moved in without too many problems. The main floor was livable, but the upstairs was uninhabitable, the floor and walls stripped of wallpaper and flooring. It was on the to-do list for Rose, just one of the many things she wanted to tackle. She always had the wishful thinking that when Danny got better they would work on it together, but Danny never got better and she never got around to it.

Currently the grass around the house was long and unkept, untouched in the two months she'd been gone. From where she was standing outside the house's boundary, one could almost say the whole property looked abandoned. Rose took a deep, frustrated sigh. She worked hard to make it not look that way, but obviously Danny didn't care about it the way she did.

Rose took steps closer to the house, trying to keep her temper in check. The more she thought about everything, Danny, the house, the accident, Danny's attitude, and Danny's head-strong father – the angrier she got. Everything had accelerated so quickly and gotten out of hand. The 'prank' telephone calls, well that was just the icing on top of the big rotten cake.

She got a wild urge, something in her telling her to be reckless and impulsive. Rose just wanted to kick down the door, bust it off its hinges, and barge in. She wanted to scream and rage and call Danny hundreds of types of idiots. She just wanted him to not be who he was now.

Her fists were clenched at her side as she waded through the grass up closer.

_Take it easy_. . . Marta advised.

She needed to slow down. This visit had to be worth it and for that she needed to be able to control her emotions.

Rose abruptly stopped halfway to the door and shut her eyes. She slowly upturned the palms of her hands and loosened her fingers. The wind was tugging on the loose tendrils around her face and her coat. Outside was her safety. If she shut her eyes the house was no longer there and Danny was no longer this ominous presence that she was scared to face.

_You can't keep running_, she was reminded. This was going to be hard, facing something that she hadn't thought about since she broke the TV and stormed out. She was going to try to figure out this small piece of her past. In her 21 years of age, she was now just focused on two of the most recent years.

Thinking more rationally and realising that she would most likely bounce off the door if she tried to kick it down, she turned the doorknob and went inside.

The house was quiet. Like the last time she was here, there was garbage and take out containers littered around the living room, though surprisingly less than she would have thought in the time she was gone. Her muddy footprints were still caked on the carpet from her last huge entrance and exit, and the TV she had ruined with the wrench was pushed behind a newer TV. Of course he wouldn't change when she was gone. Of course he would still do nothing.

She didn't understand it. She didn't understand him anymore.

Rose walked inside the house, not really caring how loud she was. She even left her shoes on. The floor was already disgustingly dirty, what were more footprints?

"Danny, where _the bloody hell_ are you. I know you're here," she called out. Let him know she was here. Let him come out and find her. She casually kicked her way through the garbage, booting a pop can across the room. This was disgusting. She just didn't care. She didn't care. _She didn't care._ Rose wanted to punch a wall. . . she was frustrated by what she was seeing. Outside appearances were deceiving, the whole illusion of the house shattered when actually inside it.

Rose heard movement in the back and so she followed the sound to their old room, her old room.

The sight that met her was one that shocked her. All her clothes, her traveling gear, her _possessions_ – laying all over the floor in a haphazard mess, like they were thrown around and beat. She could barely see the floor. Danny was behind the bed, laying with his torso on it. His arm was stretched out half across the bed and acting as a pillow for his head. Her cell phone was clutched in his hand not too far from her.

Danny looked utterly defeated, his face barely registering her when his eyes flicked over to her. His brown hair was longer and messy, almost forming dreadlocks. His face hadn't been shaved in who knows how long and he had lost some of his weight from last time she'd seen him.

"You came. . . they said you'd come," he said to her, almost astonished. He didn't bother to lift his head up.

Her fists slowly unclenched. She couldn't remember when she had clenched them again. Just looking at him, Rose felt her anger deflate from her. How could she be mad at him when he looked so pitiful? She took a step inside the room and sunk down against the wall, facing him. She wrapped her arms around her knees and leaned her head against the wall. They stared at each other.

"What are you doing?" she whispered to him.

"I need you back. . . I don't know what to do anymore," he told her.

"You never knew what to do when I was here. I tried and tried. This is all something you have to do for yourself now."

"You don't know what it was like. . . I can't do anything." He still lay in his same position, the same wretched position.

"Yes you can!" Rose said. "Stop making excuses for yourself and bringing yourself down. You need to figure out where you want to go with your life and start living again. Why are you still letting this psychological stuff stop you?"

"Who are you to judge me? It didn't happen to you. You know nothing of how I feel."

Life kicked everyone down at one point in their life. It kicked Danny down in Chile while free solo climbing in the Andes. He hadn't gotten back up yet.

Rose sighed and put her hands to her head. "_I know._ You know what; I honestly couldn't even imagine what it's like. I've never broken my back and been unable to move for weeks and weeks. I've never felt that sort of pain before. _I know_. The only thing I do know though is that if it had happened to me, I would have reacted way different than you did. As soon as I was able to start the physio to build muscle back up and get stronger, I would have. It was your attitude that got you down and it's still keeping you down."

"Well you try having your doctor tell you that you can never climb again. I lived for it. It's the only reason why I left England and went traveling. It's who I am. And then what happened to Rick. . . how didn't it affect you? You're not human, Rosie."

His breathing was getting heavier. Rose decided to just not comment on the 'Rosie' bit for there were more important things to worry about at the moment. Like Rick. She was startled he brought up Rick. . . for the past nine months it was the huge elephant that sat between them. He never wanted to talk about it before, and really, neither did she. It was too horrible to think of and to focus on the memory. But this was a conversation that she needed to bring everything to the table for. She brought the memory up to the front.

"You act like I wasn't there when it happened," she said slowly. She closed her eyes and the visions were flashing across them. _His impish grin, brown hair getting blown in the wind, listening to laughter, the sound of birds chirping_. . . Her body started shaking. Sometimes she hated how she could recall scenes and pictures so intensely. "Who do you think had to climb down after you two just fell? Who do you think had to go get help and try to keep you two warm and stable until the help arrived. You were bleeding, and neither of you were conscious, and I couldn't move you because of the possibility of neck and spinal injuries. It affected me, perhaps in a different way, but I just couldn't let it stop me mentally. I had to get help for you two."

"Rick died. You never said one thing to me about it."

She really didn't want to talk about Rick. She never wanted to talk about it when it happened and she sure wasn't ready now. She was losing her resolve. Rose tried to stop her shaking but couldn't. It was all too real to her still, too vivid in her mind.

"You know me! I don't – can't. . . I have troubles. . . _talking_ about things like that and you do too. You know I rarely told stories of my past and – I. . . I know he died, but neither of us wanted to have this conversation! We've been skirting around this issue since it happened – putting it behind your doctor visits and surgery and trying to get money to pay for everything. We're both closed people about important things and we grieve differently. You chose TV and alcohol. I chose keeping busy and not letting my mind think of it."

"You didn't know Rick like I did."

Back about a year and a half ago, she met Danny and Rick at a hostel in Salta, Argentina. They were best friends from London where they had lived their whole lives before deciding to head out into the world. They both had already been travelling and climbing mountains around the world for 7 years before Rose met them. She was 19 and they were 24. They were former rugby players and came from rather wealthy families. She was just getting into climbing, with only a few ascents under her belt and they were hard-core _real _climbers.

Rose pulled her knees up closer to her chest, trying to make herself smaller. Reliving the past was something she wasn't comfortable with. But she was trying. "I know. You guys grew up together, you were closer than brothers. If it was me and one of my friends or cousins, I would probably not be in a very good spot either. But you never stopped looking at the past after it happened. You weren't living. You still aren't. . . "

"I'm living. Of course I am. Do you hear the breaths I'm taking; that my heart is beating. I don't know if I want to be though. I should have died that day too."

"We knew the risks of free climbing," Rose whispered. "We knew them, but what did we care, we thought we were fine, we'd solo climbed lots of mountains before, and you two hundreds – even thousands more than me. But so much can change so fast, us in this room having this conversation attests to that. And we never realized what was actually at stake until it happened, right? If you were but a bit higher, you probably would have died as well."

"Like you said, I'm not living now," Danny replied bitterly. "I can't – I can't stop thinking of it. Over and over it doesn't move from my head. He – Rick was laughing, we were racing, and then his hold broke away. I just – I saw his face as he fell past and I heard you screaming in the background and – I tried to catch him, Rose, I tried to catch him. But I missed."

Danny fell silent and lifted his head off of his arm. He was staring blankly ahead, looking past Rose, back into the scenes that haunted him.

His blurred eyes met hers. "His face will forever be stuck in my mind. I can't deal with it. I need the distractions; I can't be in my own head."

And she had both their faces stuck in her mind.

She was a rookie climber, not as confident as the experienced Danny and Rick were. When they went on their excursions, she never climbed as high as they did, preferring to go at a slower pace and make sure her hands and feet were placed correctly. Climbing was something she was really enjoying; it was filled with adrenaline and it completely focused her mind. Since it was a physical and mental challenge, she relished it. But it was perhaps one of the only times where she wasn't impulsive. The risks were higher.

They had left their campsite at daybreak and hiked to their climbing area five hours away. Afternoon had only started and they were trying to squeeze a three-hour climb in before the sun set. A scheduled three-hour climb for them usually took twice as long because of all the talking and Rose's slower pace. Rick and Danny took right off at the beginning, climbing quickly with ease. Rose was going slower, listening to Danny's jibes at her speed with a smile as she concentrated on the climb.

They were about eight metres up. Rose wasn't really listening to them talk anymore but she did hear Rick yell. Small rocks went cascading down before he did. Rose looked up and saw him fall. She screamed when she saw Danny reach out with a hand to try to grab him.

Rick hit the ground with a sickening thud in front of her and then Danny, who had lost his grip on the rock from leaning too far out, fell down after, yelling out in fear. With her eyes squeezed tight she didn't see Danny hit the rocks, but she heard it. There was nothing to block her ears.

Rose was shaking and crying as she huddled against the rock, putting her face against its cool surface. She couldn't move right away, her body was frozen with shock. When she finally managed to get to the ground, she tentatively, oh so nervously walked over to the two men. It was the hardest thing she had ever done in her life. Danny was still breathing, though shallowly. There was no movement from Rick. She knew she shouldn't move them or touch them for they had both landed on their backs. She dug through their backpacks, looking for the phone with the GPS to call the paramedics. . .

"Rick wouldn't want to see you like this. . . What is living if you don't move from the couch and are half drunk all day long? You've been out in the world, you've travelled around, you _know_ what's out there. How can you stay inside day by day, seemingly ignorant of that! I don't understand. I haven't understood you for a long time."

Though now that they were opening up about everything, she could actually understand his reasoning's more. He had never told her anything before. She knew, of course, that Rick was on his mind all the time. But that was just from observations. Other than physiotherapy for his back, he probably needed to see a therapist for depression and for a more healthy recovery of his friend's death.

He needed someone who wouldn't let him walk all over them, like Rose tended to because she was afraid to set him off. He needed someone other than her for help.

"Well I didn't understand you either," Danny said angrily. "You were never in the house and never stood still. You always had to be doing something. Why couldn't you just sit with me? Why couldn't we ignore the world together?"

"Because I'm not like that. We're two completely opposite people. I run from my past, I've always been running. You, you live in the past and can't get out of it." That was perhaps the most truthful thing Rose could have said. She knew everything about Danny, because all he liked talking about was his controlling father, his childhood, and his friends. Rose had never shared anything personal, she also really couldn't, with her being a witch and magic an inconcievable thing for Danny.

They were silent after that. Danny was back to looking off into the distance right beside Rose's head. His hand was still outstretched with her old cell phone in it.

Their relationship, back when they became a couple, was formed on adrenaline and the physical exertions of what they both enjoyed. For Rose, it was a way to escape and for Danny, a way to prove his father wrong. He always talked about how his father was expecting him to come crawling home and finally take over the family company. It was a life that Danny was trying to keep away from, but in the end was forced back into it by the circumstances.

"Why have you been calling me. . . us. . . Over and over. Multiple times," asked Rose tiredly.

"They said you'd come back if I did it. And you did, you came back. I need you Rose. Please stay, we came work everything out."

It was like emotional blackmail. She couldn't stay. It killed her inside when she was here. They were both damaged and couldn't help each other out in the ways they needed to be helped. He never pressed her into talking, and she needed someone who wouldn't let her hide away.

"Really Danny. . . " she sighed. "How many times did you promise that before? We're not together anymore. We haven't been for quite some time really even though it was never discussed. You need a doctor and someone who will get you out of the. . . _stump_ you're in. The help can't come from me because I too need help, but in a different way. We don't talk and comfort each other when we're together, we never have. We're just complete opposites, and not in the way that works."

"We work," Danny spit out.

It was time to move. She had shared, spoke, and explained all that she was going to say on the subject. She'd said what she came to say, even if she didn't realise it before. She would never be able to forget what happened, nor forget her stint with Danny, but she had different things to focus on now. She had to move on.

Rose unraveled her legs and reached out lightning-quick to grab her cell phone from his hand. "I'll take this back, it was never yours to begin with."

He started. "You give that back! You have no right to take that."

Rose stood up. "I'll also be gathering everything I own. Maybe that will help you; you need to get me out of your head. Look to the future, not the past." She pulled out Molly's handbag and started moving around, throwing clothes, shoes, and her traveling supplies into the bag. Why was everything of hers so scattered? Did Danny just terrorise the whole place without any regard whatsoever for what was hers? This was her well-earned money! These were all she owned! She noticed a few of her shirts were ripped, and not by her doing. Rose shot glares up at Danny with each new one she noticed.

Danny stood up a little shakily. "Stop right now. You can't take anything. You're going to live here. Don't go."

"Do you realize I have been wearing almost the same thing every day for the past two months? I can continue doing it for the next six as well; I don't have to leave with anything and can just go now. We've talked. I have nothing more to say."

_Rile him up a bit love_, Greg said. _Let's get some action going._

_No. _Rose wasn't going to. She could feel Marta's approval, and Greg's dissapointment. And when she thought about it, she realised that it was the last time she was in this house, talking with Danny (or more accurately fighting) was when the voices appeared. Rose paused in her packing and looked around her. Were they from something in the house?

Danny didn't stay anything as he stood and stared at her through her packing. Rose didn't care that she was stuffing unimaginable amounts in Molly's small handbag. She didn't care if it was considered magic in front of a muggle or if Danny even noticed. She found one of her trousers with the whole left leg cut off and just held it up silently in front of Danny, questioning him on _what-the-fuck_ he had been thinking. He didn't look ashamed at all. Nor did he provide answers.

A sudden horrible thought seized her: if he touched her clothes, what about her camera and all her pictures from her travels? Those were perhaps the only thing she owned that she cared about the most.

"If you touched. . . " she started to say, but then didn't finish her sentence, too worried. She quickly crawled forwards and pulled out the bottom drawer of the armoire, tugging out her fabric covers. She rapidly flipped through the pictures inside them. None of the pictures were ruined. She breathed thankfully and put her pictures in the handbag. Her camera was a muggle one, but she luckily was able to barter for it at a cheap price with a fellow adventurer who just bought herself a new one. She turned it on and off to see if it would work still. It did.

"I wouldn't touch them. . . I know how special they are to you. I just lost control with the some of your clothes. . . It wasn't my fault. They – they told me to and I listened. But I didn't when they said to do it with your pictures."

Well whoever 'they' were, Rose was furious at them. Who the hell would tell Danny to destroy her belongings? It was stupid. However, having clothes that were ruined was a small price to the safety of her pictures. At least Danny didn't listen to them in that regard.

Rose finished packing up everything on the floor and moved to the bathroom, the kitchen, and then the entrance. Still Danny didn't comment on the huge amounts being shoved into the small handbag. Perhaps he really was oblivious, or perhaps he just knew that if he said anything else, something bad would happen. Rose definitely was considering stunning him if he aggravated her more, with no second thoughts.

In the kitchen she pulled out the phonebook and folded down a few pages in the book.

"Call one of these numbers and go talk to a therapist. Go to your dad, tell him what happened and ask for money. You need to swallow your pride and open up with your family. They can help you. You need to stop putting pressure on me to stay. You're only putting more distance between us and I _will not_ stay any longer in this house."

Rose pulled down the business card on the fridge. "This is the physiotherapist's number that you were supposed to call. Call now and they will help you regain your strength and get healthy again. Never take a doctor's diagnosis as concrete. Things can change still Danny. Never give up hope. But you need to be proactive and actually _do_ something about everything. Stop sitting around and moping. This has gone on long enough."

Danny, who had been following her around the house like a puppy dog collapsed into a kitchen chair and didn't say anything as he looked at what Rose had in front of him. She pushed it closer to him and then left the room.

She stopped in the living room. She really shouldn't. . . but she did anyway. Rose pulled out her wand and started vanishing some of the garbage that was sitting around. Actually she vanished it all. It was a small thing she could do before she left. The rest was up to Danny.

_Not a smart idea_, commented Marta. _He'll notice that for sure_.

She didn't care.

Rose was going to come back and check on him in a few weeks. She would never tell Danny that of course, for he would probably wait around for her. He needed to move on.

"Goodbye Danny," Rose said. She was officially closing this chapter of her life. She had dealt with it, it was done.

However, she was on the front doorstep when she heard footsteps behind her.

"Please don't go Rosie. I – I love you."

She just about decked him right there. Instead, Rose controlled her temper, rolled her eyes and repeated, "goodbye." She wasn't leaving like last time.

"They said you'd stay. . . they promised. Don't go."

"Ok. Who the hell is 'they'? You haven't left the house practically since you moved in. You the hell do you talk to?"

Danny's eyes widened.

"Well?" demanded Rose.

"It's – I have voices in my head. They tell me things. They started talking to me the day you left Rosie. And I'm not going crazy, I swear."

Well, fuck. Perhaps this chapter wasn't closed yet.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: Free solo climbing is climbing without any ropes or harnesses. Basically it's just you, the rock, and your skill.**_


	18. A library and a defaced article

October 4, 2026

* * *

><p>The next few days Rose was at the library, more specifically the Webstrian Wizarding Library known internationally (to the wizarding population) for the two large stone carved owls that stood on either side of the door. These owls were animated and gave knowledge to those who managed to throw a copper penny in their open beaks. The Webstrian Library was a beautiful building that was made out of polished grey marble with large stained glass windows on the main floor. The library was seven stories high and even went a few stories underground. It contained thousands of books, millions of maps, and hundreds of manuscripts. It was the second largest magic library in the world and Rose's first resource for researching head maladies to figure out why she and Danny were hearing voices.<p>

Her first day there she spent a few hours just wandering around the library before she even started researching. It was unreal how much _stuff _was contained in the library. The tall bookshelves were packed full of literature with every subject imaginable – fluffy maneating caterpillars to the effects of vanishing an eyeball to muggle relationships with dogs in Greenland. Each floor was styled differently to reflect the year it was added. For example the second floor was Romanesque style, the third Gothic, and the fifth Baroque. On each floor, there were famous and original paintings hanging on the wall – even some of the woven tapestries made from hundreds of years ago. After a few hours of wandering, Rose found the medical section on the third floor and four full bookcases of head and brain related research.

Even though Rose was a former Ravenclaw, libraries weren't her favourite places. She had always been a more hands on learner and usually struggled with book learning and memorisation, which her marks reflected. Her best friend at Hogwarts, Whitney, had been the opposite and Rose wished she had Whitney to help filter out which books to pick. She didn't know how to approach the librarians and describe what she needed to find. They would think her crazy.

Luckily, there weren't many people in the library. Rose almost didn't enter the library the first day because she was scared that there would be someone that knew her there, but enter she did and found that the library was rather empty, even after exploring all the floors. During the day she was the only one in her section, and even on the whole 3rd floor most days. It was only after three in the afternoon that the odd students who were done their classes for the day started showing up.

She had a large wooden table to herself with piles of books stacked on it. None of the books were easy to read; all of them contained complex medical terms, theories, and lots of philosophy. She had not heard of half of the things nor studied brains before so it took her quite some time to simplify terms down and search for the definitions. With some of the older material, it was written in Latin and Rose looked for words she recognised but usually had to pass those books over. She didn't know a translating spell and didn't think to ask the librarian at the time. She had Molly's clipboard still and was making odd notes here and there about magical maladies of the head.

She found nothing helpful for her and Danny's situation so far. In some of the older texts it talked about the seers who went crazy with mention of voices in their heads because of the strain on them and also because most of them had been widely persecuted. One of the books talked about the muggle mental institutions in days of old that mistakenly took in young muggle wizards or witches who hadn't had control of their power yet – they were thought to be crazy and eventually did become crazy with the 'care' they received in those institutions. Even better, she found a small journal written by a healer on one of his patients who suffered from violent voices in their head so bad that the patient committed suicide only a few weeks into therapy.

On Sunday late in the morning she had no less than 13 books stacked around her, a few of them opened as she flipped through them, vainly searching for something. Marta and Greg were surprisingly silent in the library, not giving helpful or snarky comments, or aiding in her quest to discover where they were from or how they got there.

At noon she snapped two books shut and sat dejected in her chair. There were just so many books with so much information in them and so much she didn't understand. She piled up three of the books in the 'no' pile and went in search of more. Only one million more books to look through.

It had been raining hard when she left the flat this morning. Luckily because of acquiring all her things from her ex's house she had her long black raincoat, wellingtons, and some of her water resistant clothes now available. She thought it was excessive that she was wearing such weather specific clothes when she was going to be inside the whole day, but it was such a nice thing to have a closet again. To be able to wear something different instead of those worn out jeans and the same long sleeve t-shirt (she still was going to wear long sleeves every day to cover the bracelet) was such a relief. With fall and winter coming up, she now was equipped to be outside more – and she didn't have to buy anything. A few of her favourite things had been cut up so Rose was in the process of trying to sew and patch them. She was sure there was some domestic sewing spell, but if she could do it perfectly fine by hand she didn't see why she would search for the spell.

Rose picked up six of the more promising looking books on the top shelf, reaching to her full length on her tiptoes. She stacked them in her arms and headed back to her table. It was a drawback that most of the medical books had to be the size of dictionaries. They were heavy and when the books were piled in her arms they rested just under her chin. Since her thoughts were on the book closest to her chin, a book called _An Attempt to Determine with Precision such Injuries of the Head that Change the Metaphysical Structure of Being, _she was wholly unprepared to see anyone when she turned the corner. She had been alone previously – on the whole floor she thought – and was expecting to not have any company. Yet there was somebody sitting at the table. Rose gave a small scream in surprise and the books tumbled from her arms. She leaned briefly against the bookcase as she caught her breath, her hand on her heart.

Scorpius bloody Malfoy was seated right there flipping through one of her books. He looked up at her.

"We're in a library Weasley, show a little decorum and be quieter."

"What the hell are you doing here! How - ! _Why - ?_" He gave her a sly smile instead of responding. Oooh, he was pushing it. She wanted to wipe off that arrogant smile from his face. He had no right to be at the library. How on Earth did he find her?

The sound of heavy footsteps came running and the handsome librarian who called himself Jacques came running into view with his wand drawn. "What's going on? Are you all right?" He looked between Rose and Scorpius multiple times, huffing and trying to catch his breath.

No she wasn't all right. She tried to catch her breath to reply; however, Scorpius beat her to it.

"She was just surprised to see me, that's all," he said cheerfully. "I'm an old school friend. We're alright."

She wouldn't describe them as old school friends. Ha.

Jacques put a hand on his chest. "Oh thank goodness. I thought somebody had been attacked and I couldn't even recall a simple defending spell. Carry on, sorry to disturb you." He swiftly turned around and walked back still huffing and puffing in the direction he came from.

Rose was still standing with her books splayed on the ground. Half stunned, she leaned down and started re-piling her books in a stack. Surprisingly Scorpius joined her and helped carry them to the table. She took her spot that Scorpius had momentarily occupied as he sat across from her, leaning back on the chair with crossed arms on his chest.

"So. . ." Scorpius said. "I mean, it's nice to know that you've _finally_ realised the seriousness of your condition, but I would recommend Mungo's instead."

Rose flushed red. This was embarrassing and it wasn't like she could defend herself. She had no comebacks here and couldn't give anything away. "Oh _shut up_. I'm just doing some research."

"What for? Aren't you supposed to be searching for Canwood?"

Rose narrowed her eyes. "Stop being so snoopy. Yes I bloody well am, but apparently he's not even here right now so I'm just pausing in that area and pursuing a different. . . interest. It's none of your business."

"Brain-related injuries. Okay." Scorpius looked dubious. He was garbed in similar attire to her, a black raincoat and a pair of ankle high wellies under dark jeans. He somehow looked a whole lot more composed than her and way more stylish even though Rose was wearing her nicer clothes. Scorpius continued, "how long are you planning on keeping this up?"

He pried too much. Really. Rose rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. Her gaze shifted from him to one of the new books she grabbed. She wasn't going to answer him because he only had more questions. Maybe if she just completely ignored him he would go away. She didn't want to get kicked out of the library so she had to keep her temper down and not let him crawl under her skin.

"Weasley."

Rose continued to read onwards whilst ignoring Scorpius, flipping here and there and scanning the pages.

_Though there are many different reports on the total percentage of the brain we use, there is no denying. . . _

Nope. She flipped again.

_The frontal lobe has the ability to retain longer term memories which are not task-based. These are often memories associated with emotions derived from input from . . . It modifies those emotions to generally fit socially acceptable. . . _

_The frontal lobe has the ability to retain longer term memories which are not task-based. . . _

"Weasleey. . ."

_The frontal lobe has the ability to retain longer. ._ . Shit, she'd read that line a few times already. She flipped to halfway through the textbook.

_Heavy knocks to the head can disrupt the brain processes, even jarred only a few millimetres, can cause the patient to sustain some loss of memory and in more serious cases, loss of consciousness. . ._

Rose definitely hadn't hit her head beforehand. She might have burst a few blood vessels in her head when she had been angry, but her head was perfectly fine, she thought.

She was trying to ignore Scorpius while reading but she just couldn't absorb anything in the text. He then started tapping his foot on the floor. Loudly. It was incredibly hard to think with him sitting right across from her; he was a large distraction. She just _knew_ he was looking at her too.

Rose didn't turn her gaze upwards towards him, instead preferring to put her hands on her ears in an attempt to block out the noise. She continued to stare down at the table, her red hair forming a curtain around her face. She kept reading the same page over and over without really realising it in her attempt to ignore him. He would go away. He would.

Even though her ears were covered, she could still hear his incessant tapping.

"You haven't flipped the page in about seven minutes," Scorpius said, amused. Rose glared at the page and removed one of her hands from her ear to flip it.

She put her hands back over her ears and pressed harder. She didn't want to hear him, she had important stuff to do and didn't want to be around him.

_This is the part where you hex him_, Greg said.

_I don't want to get kicked out of the library. I need to do research!_ Rose replied.

His tapping didn't stop. If anything Scorpius increased his speed. It was bloody annoying! She was contemplating squishing his foot with one of the heavier books when he abruptly stood up and walked away, turning between two shelves and out of sight.

Rose dropped her hands from her ears and half stood up in the chair looking in the direction he went.

"It was that easy?" she muttered to herself. "Ha!"

She sat back down and turned to her books, finally without distractions. But she found she couldn't concentrate right away. Her mind kept wandering back to Scorpius sitting across from her. Why did he just leave? The last few times they were together he wouldn't shut up and leave her alone. _And now he did!?_ It just seemed so unlike him. She debated getting up and walking through the library to see if he really left, but then convinced herself out of it. She had to focus back on her research.

Half a page of notes and two books later she was back in the mode and had her concentration back. However, her peace didn't last long.

A newspaper slid into her view and broke her concentration. Scorpius sat down across from her again.

"What the hell!" Rose gasped. "Why are you here again!"

"I didn't leave," Scorpius simply said. "Read." He gestured to the paper he set in front of her.

"I'm busy. As you can see I already have quite a bit of reading material." She pointed to the couple dozen books already on the table.

"Don't be stubborn."

"Leave me alone then."

Scorpius sighed loudly. "Obviously its relevant or I wouldn't be pointing it out. Don't be so obtuse."

Unwillingly (and because she was curious no matter how hard she denied it), Rose looked at what he brought. The newspaper was open to the fifth page of some Polish paper she didn't recognise.

"Vladimo Szalek, missing since Monday," Rose read out. She was expecting something different. "Well, I mean it sucks that this guy is missing. But I don't see how this is relevant and important. I don't even know who he is."

"Ask Dominique next time you see her. She would be able to tell you more about him, but essentially he is a potioneer. Quite famous too."

"Okaaay." She scanned the first few lines of the paragraph. It basically said Szalek disappeared from him house in Olszytn with potions that were still brewing, leading investigators to believe he had been abducted.

"Who's in Poland right now," prompted Scorpius.

"What are – do you mean Canwood?"

"No," he replied sarcastically. "Just the other person we both know over there."

"Oh shut up." Rose repeated for the second time to him. "What does Canwood have to do with this potions fella?"

Scorpius then raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, shouldn't you know?"

Damn him. He _knew_ she didn't know the answer to that. Dangling information in front of her was a cruel thing to do. Rose knew Scorpius wouldn't give up the answers easily.

Scorpius slid another newspaper towards her. "_This_ paper is from last week. Potion ingredients were stolen from an apothecary in London." He set another one in front of her. "This paper is from last June. In Bristol there was a murder of one Gerty Pots, a part-time potioneer. Her place was ransacked afterwards. There are a few more similar articles around Europe, but I think this is enough evidence."

Rose was silent as she flipped through the papers, briefly looking at the articles.

Instead of waiting for her response, he stood up, pressing his hands on the table and leaning slightly towards her, attempting to press his point further. His blonde hair fell into his eyes and he was an impressive figure dressed in black. "There is a connection in all these papers and with the gang Snake Bitten. What does Canwood even do in Snake Bitten? What rank is he in the gang? Hell, what _IS_ Snake Bitten? Canwood isn't the only person you need to focus on. How are they getting power and what is their territory? How are they governed? Where are the weaknesses? And even simpler, where does Canwood live? I assure you Weasley that just because Canwood is not in London doesn't mean there is nothing to do. You can't just go in and nab him without information. I'll see you around."

He straightened out and started walking away – was it her imagination or was he walking rather slow?

_You better run after him honey, he's obviously got important information, _Marta said.

Rose turned around in her chair and yelled at him, "can you just tell me this for once! Instead of dropping hints here and there, insinuating how. . . how dumb I am for not figuring these things out myself? Obviously this area is something I suck at, so just help me!."

Rose thought she heard the sound of paper crinkling and the sound of a pen writing and looked behind her quickly. Nobody was there.

Scorpius turned around and faced her. "Life isn't that simple. And I don't know all the answers myself."

Rose put her hands to her face and pulled her skin in frustration. "Can you just tell me what you know, and then I'll proceed from there. And afterwards can you just step out of my life. _You're_ the one making things complicated." _Lie_. Her situation was complicated. Rose took a breath. "I just – it's been four years since Hogwarts and all that. . . Stop tracking me down and – I just don't want to be around you. And obviously you reciprocate that. You've made that very clear in the past. So leave me alone."

She didn't understand the look on his face as he stared, unresponsive, back at her. It was part – but he dropped the look and took a few steps towards her before she could begin to describe what she saw.

"I'll cut you a deal Weasley."

Rose fluttered her hands in the air. "Well, I'm listening. Not much else I can do."

"If you can made a patronus right now – a _corporeal_ patronus – I'll leave you alone. For good. If you can't, then we're together in this."

"You're not serious!" Rose exclaimed. Of all the things to suggest! This would be so easy. She pulled out her wand from her raincoat pocket. She extended her arm, holding her wand loosely in her wrist. She'd been able to do a patronus since fifth year, one of the spells she was insanely proud of accomplishing. However she hadn't done it in years. . .

Rose's wrist slowly dropped. What was her happy memory?

Her mind filtered through the past few years. She obviously couldn't use the last year. There were some fun times interspaced between the bad – but all the drama with Danny, living with him and being miserable. . . yeah that overpowered everything. Even the past few months - her and her cousins had some fun times, but those memories were tainted with The Reds Inconnu and her blood bracelet. Almost _all_ of her happy memories were tainted with something.

"Oh my god. . . " she whispered, sudden realisation coming to her. She didn't think she'd be able to do one. The happy memory she used previously was a Hogwarts memory. But she was sure it wouldn't work any longer, she hadn't talked to her friends in the memory in so long and it was rather depressing thinking about it.

Eventually she picked the feeling of flying. Not with broomsticks, but with wings of a hang glider. Rose had been with two travelling companions and after ground training for three days they finally did a first flight. It was a happy memory, but Rose knew it wouldn't be strong enough. She tried to cast the spell anyways.

Not even a wisp came out of her wand. It was humiliating that Scorpius was there to witness it. She pretended to be indifferent.

"Whatever. I'll work on it." She put her wand away, her mood sour. She turned back around to sit normally in her chair with her hands limp on her lap. Rose just lost all motivation to continue working. Scorpius moved back into her vision by sitting down across from her.

"Alright," he gently said. "Here are the terms. Because I am working in the same area of London as you, and am collecting information about the people you need to know about, how about we work together for the next few weeks."

"No."

"Sorry, I'll rephrase. We're _going to_ be working together the next few weeks. My regular partner just got transferred and you're replacing him, unofficially of course. It's safer, you'll learn more, and while you're dealing with Canwood, I've got his boss."

_It's a proposition you can't refuse. . . he'll just find you again, _stated Marta.

"How did you know I was here?" asked Rose. It was sad to say but she almost had no fight left in her. Not being able to do a patronus. . .

"That's a conversation for another time."

"I don't suppose I have a choice then, do I?"

Scorpius shrugged his shoulders. "There is always a choice, even if you don't realise it."

"So if I agree to this – you'll tell me everything you know about Canwood and help me find him?"

"Yes," he slowly said. "There is only so much I can tell for some of the information is confidential with the Ministry. I certainly don't have the clearance to release it. Your dad would, but for obvious reasons we won't ask him. I can _show_ as much as I can though. Then you'll be able to see layouts of buildings, have faces of people in your mind, know some useful spells. . . all that."

She was certainly not asking her dad anything. There was absolutely no need to even hint at what she was doing.

Rose knew she really shouldn't team up with Scorpius. . . She would have to keep the contract and bracelet secret of course. In August she would have outright refused, screaming and yelling. It was now October and she had nothing to show for the past month and a half. It was becoming more tempting, certainly. Why was he offering her this? She thought he really disliked her; he certainly did at Hogwarts. How much had he changed in the past four years?

"If I accept, what does that mean?"

Scorpius grinned cheekily at her. "Well this means you get to see my charming face in the mornings."

Despite herself, Rose couldn't help but give a small smile. He had charisma – that was certain. She started closing her books at the table. When she piled up the newspapers, she realised one had been defaced with writing – writing that hadn't been there before when Rose read the article. Rose turned it around to read it. '_Say yes you stubborn bint!_' it said, all in large black capital letters.

"Did – did you write this?" asked Rose. How could he have written it though? There had been no writing when she last looked at it after he walked away. Nobody else had been near her.

Scorpius turned the paper towards him and read with raised eyebrows. "No. . . And nobody has been around this section. . ."

Scorpius flipped through the newspaper, closely inspecting the pages. It had to be a human who wrote it and was eavesdropping. She even remembered hearing scribbling – and looked behind her, just not down at the table.

_Say yes. . . _It seemed like the whole world conspiring against her.

Rose started levitating her books to the return cart. She would have to solve the voices problem and the writing on the paper a different day. The books she was depositing on the cart were magically reshelving – one of the perks of magical libraries.

"I don't know," Scorpius told her honestly. "Someone is sneaking around. They're probably long gone by now." He took the written pages out of the paper and pocketed it. "So, back to our previous discussion – do you accept?"

"I think this is a horrible idea and that one of us is going to kill the other. But I – I guess it's the smart thing to do."

Molly would be happy, same with Marta, and the supposed mysterious writer.

"Well of course it is. You're with me, aren't you? You ready to go Weasley?"

Rose put her raincoat on, buttoning up the large buttons to her chin and slung her backpack over her shoulder. Just as Scorpius looked impressive in his clothes Rose looked equally the same in hers, she just didn't notice it herself. Scorpius raised an eyebrow at her in appreciation when she wasn't looking while she was adjusting one of the backpack straps.

"I'm ready."

X-X-X-X-X


	19. Miniature owls and omnioculars

Octobre 6

* * *

><p>They didn't make it very far before they were separated. Rose was sitting alone on the steps in front of the library while Scorpius was stuck inside. The overhanging roof protected her from the worst of the wind and rain as she gazed out at the grey environment. All of a sudden she started giggling. Again. She couldn't stop herself.<p>

She was sure she had been giggling for the past twenty minutes while she waited for Scorpius to emerge from the library. That thinking prompted more laughs, and even though the weather was bleak and cold, she felt exhilarated and warm. It was just too funny.

Her and Scorpius had been about to walk through the main doors of the library when animated stone owls swooped down on him from their perch above the door, hooting and chasing him away from the entrance. Scorpius was hollering for help and trying to swat the birds away from his head, yelling at Rose to stun the blasted things. She was as helpful as a slice of bologna; she was staring in awe at the bizarre sight. It was rare to see Scorpius so ruffled.

With the commotion, Jacques the librarian came huffing and puffing into view again, making such a short distance seem like a marathon.

"You two again! Which one of you did it! Which one of you is the thief!" he spluttered out, seemingly missing the part where Scorpius was the only one getting attacked. As soon as Jacques finished talking the owls took off and resumed their perch above the doorway. They preened their feathers with their beaks before ducking their heads down back and 'hardening' back into stone to guard the door.

That was the start of Rose's giggles. They came without thought and wouldn't go away even though she tried. The serious look on Jacques face and the stunned on Scorpius' only prompted more giggles.

Scorpius had the newspaper page in his pocket and he was about to get in trouble. He glared at her as his face turned slowly pink in embarrassment. He straightened himself, pushed down his sleeves, adjusted his raincoat and flattened out his hair that had been pulled by the owls – all in an attempt to compose himself.

"I'm from the Ministry, the Auror Department. I'm – extracting evidence and will return it after it has been examined."

Jacques thick eyebrows went upwards to hide under his hair that was falling over his face. "You can't just waltz out. . . ! _Iodiota_. . . there's a protocol. . . follow me. . . " He stalked off to his office. ". . . have proof. . . " they heard him mutter under his breath.

Rose was still caught up in her giggling; her hands on her knees trying to catch her breath.

"I'll . . . I'll be back," Scorpius murmured, still embarrassed by what just passed. He ran his hands through his hair as he watched Rose struggling to stop laughing.

He took a few steps away and then turned around quickly. "Fat load of help you were!" he accused before he stalked off to Jacques office.

"If you get thrown in jail I'm not coming to bail you out," Rose called after him with a large grin on her face. Maybe they would have some sort of holding cell in the library; Jacques obviously cared a great deal about his books and was an efficient librarian for all he was out of shape.

Chuckling, Rose went outside and sat on the steps, where she currently was situated waiting for Scorpius to finally get out. She thought being outside in the damp environment would stop her laughing, but it didn't help one smidgen.

The whole world was drowning in water. After raining heavy for a few days, the streets were mostly cleared of traffic and people. There were a few brave souls who ventured out with umbrellas but it was a quiet day otherwise. Rose leaned against the steps, resting on her backpack, and felt quite relaxed for the moment beside the odd fits of merriment that overtook her.

_Leave while he's occupied_, Greg suggested. She didn't want to though.

She eventually heard the door open and close behind her and snickered under her breath. She knew it was Scorpius. She heard him sigh loudly as he walked towards her and sat a few feet away from her on the steps.

"I am now the owner of a Webstrian Wizarding Library Card," Scorpius told her with his hands clasped loosely in front of him. "And I have six weeks to return the newspaper, not just the page. I have the whole bloody thing now. It would have been three weeks, but because I have authorisation that 'priviledge' has been extended."

Rose couldn't keep the grin off her face. "You thief you. Getting a library card in punishment." She shook her head. "You're lucky you walked outside those doors unscathed. I'm sure you were about a few steps away from getting banned from the library."

"Like you?" Scorpius muttered as he looked at the few scratches on his hands from the owls talons. The smile finally fell from Rose's face and she muttered 'mood killer' under her breath at him. She looked away from Scorpius and turned to face the grey streets once more. Her and libraries had never quite got along.

"Well we should be off," he announced with one last look at his hand. "We're on a schedule today." He turned around to sit on his knees and spread a map out on the step landing behind him. Rose scooted a little closer to him so she could see what he was doing.

"Our first stop is at this bank." Scorpius traced his long finger from the library to the other side of the map: the Luminess Bank. "Because we're apparating the nearest we can get is about. . . right here. . . the closest safe apparation zone."

Rose's eyebrows rose at his finger that was a good five blocks away from the bank. "There are safe apparation zones in London?" She had been apparating blind the past few months. How did she not think there would be some sort of regulation on it!

"But of course."

Rose nodded but didn't say anything. She was lucky she didn't get caught – by Ministry officials or muggles. She probably should have known that considering her parents both worked at the Ministry, but then again she had avoided magic for the past few years and it was something not really mentioned at Hogwarts.

"You can request somewhere to have muggle repelling charms, say, if you had travelled to a specific area lots. And the Ministry is reasonable with requests, but they do limit the amount of zones in an area. Our closest spot is about five blocks from the bank."

"Who would know if you apparated closer?" asked Rose.

"I would."

"So there's no record of it anywhere. . . ?"

"No Weasley. All your illegal apparating the past few weeks has not been recorded and you aren't about to lose your wand."

She felt her cheeks heat up slightly. "At least I passed my apparation test the first time I took it." Scorpius shot her a dirty look; he failed three times. "What's the street name we're apparating too – uh, what are you - ?"

She fell silent as she watched Scorpius mutter a spell that made colour appear in the map in certain areas and then duplicated the map with a '_Gemino_'. He muttered a few other spells that Rose didn't recognise before he rolled up the duplicate and handed it to her.

"Here's the safe apparation spots in London, they're coloured red. This is now your personal map. Areas in orange are places the gang inhabits and you should stay away from. If anything else becomes relevant add it to your map. Spots of interest and whatnot, it helps you keep track of things easier. We should be off now."

He held out his arm for her and she just stared at it after zipping the map up in her bag. Not surprisingly the warehouses were in orange.

"Errr – what? What's the street? I'll meet you there."

"Just grab hold. This is faster than discussing the location every time we go someplace."

Rose slowly stood up and studied him for a moment. She felt he had an ulterior reason – for everything he did. She trusted him, but then didn't trust him. Not his words all the time. She always felt he was leaving something out. . . like he was telling part of the truth or part of what was relevant, but there was something deliberately not said.

She knew how to apparate. Realistically she just probably couldn't do it quite so quickly as him. Less practice tends to do that. Rather than argue, she slowly walked to him and took hold of his arm. A horrible squeezing motion later and they were in the alley.

Rose quickly released his arm and walked a few steps away, pulling up her hood to ward from the rain. There was no cover in the alley.

Scorpius put up his own hood also. "We're going to this bank first because it is a building you should only ever watch from afar. It's a muggle bank but wizards and witches have infiltrated it. Any newcomers who go in are taken to a back room and given veritaserum and then a memory charm because the bank _never_ accepts new customers. They treat everyone with distrust."

Luminess bank was one of the places on Canwood's bio. She had passed it by a few times but never went in. . . unless she did and has no recollection. . . but she WAS NOT even going to think that.

Scorpius led her the five blocks to the bank in silence. When it came into view, he stayed on the far side of the street and turned into an old department store instead. Her eyes blinked at the sudden light change; it was grey outside with minimal sunlight and the bright fluoresent lights in the store hurt her eyes. They walked through the aisles, passing the odd customer who was shopping, and she followed him up the few flights of stairs at the back of the store.

There was an older man seated in the room by himself. He wore a pair of jean overalls with a flannel shirt underneath. She could smell coffee in the room.

"Evening Scorpius," he said. He had a bushy white beard and large kind brown eyes under thick eyebrows. His hands rested on a cane.

"Evening Matthias," replied Scorpius. "This is Rose."

"Evening Rose," Matthias said.

Scorpius gently elbowed her side and nodded his head towards Matthias.

"Evening Matthias," Rose said a bit uncertainly. Matthias nodded at her and then lifted his cane and brought it down with a smack. A door opened behind him.

Scorpius and Rose walked by without saying anything else. There was a narrow set of stairs and then they were in an attic. The ceiling was low and so both Rose and Scorpius were hunched over. He led her to a window. The attic was a small wooden room with a dirty window at each end. It was about a quarter the size of the department store on the previous floors. There were a few chairs and bookshelves that were against the walls, but otherwise it was empty. The only light coming in was through the windows.

"We're not going to be here long," Scorpius said as he checked his watch. "That was Matthias downstairs. He's part of the Auror Department."

Scorpius dragged two wooden chairs from the side to sit before the window facing the bank. Rose deposited her backpack on the ground and sat on the edge of her chair beside him, crossing her knees. The Luminess bank was directly across the street from them. It looked out of place next to all the old stores around it as it was a newer building with large glass sides and clean brick.

Scorpius pulled a pair of omnioculars from the shelf and started fiddling with the dials. Rose watched his long fingers move around and noticed the concentration on his face. He lifted the omnioculars up to the window and started looking into the bank.

"Why don't you clean the window?" Rose asked. She didn't think he could actually get a good view out of it.

"So nobody can see in. We can see out but it's next to impossible to see in," said Scorpius. He passed her the omnioculars. "Here, rewind and memorise the face."

It took her a moment to remember how to use omnioculars, but she put them up to her face and looked through, pressing the rewind button.

"This is Rebecca Box; she is married to an idiot named Flamesy. If you ever see her, run. Don't second guess yourself, just get out as quick as you can. . and don't let her see your face. She's. . . _insane_. To put it bluntly."

"I think I recognise her," Rose muttered. The woman had medium length blonde hair and was walking around her office while talking on a phone and looking through papers. Rose had the fleeting image of a woman with blonde hair in a ponytail high tailing it out of Coffee for Kooks a month ago.

"Tell me she didn't see your face," Scorpius said. Rose could feel his eyes on her face. He was tuned wholly on her.

Rose set the binoculars on her lap and nervously ran a hand through her hair. She didn't like the attention. Unfortunately her hand got caught by knots and she ended up pulling some of the hair from her head before her fingers got out.

"I. . . well I was turned the other way, so I don't think. . . probably not. . . " Rose said, avoiding the piercing gaze of his eyes. Scorpius sighed deeply but didn't say anything else. He rubbed his eyes with his fingers and turned to look at Rebecca through the window.

_You can't lie about important things like this to him_, exclaimed Marta. _Stupid, stupid, stupid_.

But the alternative, telling, was harder.

"Well, you'll just have to kill her before she kills you then."

Rose looked sharply at him. "You're not serious?"

His brown eyes were sombre as he stared across the street. When his attention turned to her she realised how close they were seated. Too close. She scooted her chair sideways and it made a loud squealing noise across the floor. Rose winced and Scorpius smirked at her.

"She can shoot jinxes out of her wand faster than Canwood can. She acts first and acts questions later. She's utterly devoted to Snakebitten and only cares about money. She's a horrible person."

That worried Rose. She had been inquiring about Canwood that day in the store. Perhaps she wasn't recognised and Rebecca left the store for her own reasons, not because of Rose's loud mouth.

She could perhaps all she wanted, but she didn't quite believe them.

She didn't tell Scorpius her thoughts.

* * *

><p>The next place they went were the warehouses. This was her first time back since the disastrous sinkhole injury.<p>

Not surprisingly they had to be disillusioned. Since they were moving they could vaguely see each other's outlines. Scorpius threatened that if she wandered off or got too far away they would have to move forwards by holding hands so as to not lose each other.

"Would you hold hands with a male Auror buddy if you were both disillusioned?" she asked stingingly.

"Yes."

She grudgingly stayed close as they carefully made their way closer and closer to the large buildings. They were skirting the large puddles of water on the ground because walking in water gave way to noise, ripples, and mud tracks.

It was bordering on late afternoon as they tramped closer and closer to their destination.

He slowed down and pulled up beside her, his wavery outline just visible. Rose could feel his breath near her ear. There were times she could appreciate his tall height. "The weather is deterring the people that patrol. Normally this place is covered with gang members. Four o' clock is also change of shift, so we have one hour here before we have to leave."

"Why only one hour?" Rose asked quietly.

"Because where we're going here there is only a one hour gap before the spells are renewed."

"What spells? I didn't know they had spells here?"

"They have more than spells." That was all he said.

"Are you not going to elaborate more?" Rose asked, frustrated. "You can't just say 'they have more than spells' and not say what else they have here! What if I wanted to come here sometime? Shouldn't you just say what there all is here?"

She could see him shake his head. "It's too dangerous to be around here. It's orange on your map for a reason. This place is crawling all the time with people."

_Don't let him control you're movements_, said Greg.

_He's doing it for a good reason!_ Marta shot back.

_He doesn't get to dictate her life,_ was all Greg said.

She rubbed her temple from the few sharp pains that randomly just showed up. Rose wasn't going to keep away just by Scorpius's sayso. "You know what Malfoy, everything is fucking dangerous around here. What would make it less dangerous is to know what makes it so fucking dangerous in the first place! Then I can be wary. . . take precautions."

They had reached the first warehouse and were at its backside, the river Thames on the left and the warehouse on the right. The ground was rocky, uneven, and soaked. Scorpius covered their footprints behind them with a spell but luckily nobody was out back for their shoes made loud squelching noises. Rose was going to have to give her shoes a big scrub when she got back to her flat.

"You shouldn't come out here alone. . . especially for someone's who's. . . _green_."

Rose rolled her eyes though he couldn't see them. "For your information, I've already been out here. _And_ I was in one of the warehouses."

_You probably should have kept that a secret_, Marta said.

"When? You're not serious are you?" Rose could just imagine the look on his face; incredulous, and disbelieving.

"Yes, and it all turned out. . . fine," Rose said, perhaps stretching the truth quite a bit. "Nobody saw me and I managed to sneak into one of the warehouses."

_Lies. . . _

"Without being seen?"

"I had the invisibility cloak, movement doesn't register with it, nor spells."

"Hmmm. . . There are guards posted on all the doors at all times. This place is watched constantly. Nobody goes in or out." Scorpius said. Rose could hear the doubt in his voice. He continued, "regardless of the rain, someone is at the doors at all times. It's just the patrols that get deterred. Only. . . an explosion would draw people away. Do remember noticing any fires or anything?"

"Actually, I recall smelling smoke that day," recalled Rose.

"Well, Ok. . . that explains more than it doesn't."

"Oh? How so?" she said with eyebrows raised. "Wait, let me guess, it's something I can't know."

"You can, but it doesn't matter right now."

Rose growled under her breath.

Scorpius pointed at the wall in front of them. They were at the back of the fourth warehouse. "So what we want to do is climb up to the roof," Scorpius said. "We have to be quiet, but the nice thing about old buildings is there are lots of handholds."

He put his hands on the brick and hoisted himself up. When he realised she wasn't following him he turned around. All she could see was a blurry spot on the wall where he was. "What, are you scared? From what I heard you've climbed loads of mountains and the like. What's one simple wall?"

_Insolent bugger, jinx him_, Greg said.

"You're trying to get a rise out of me. It's not working. . . I'm not scared. . . " muttered Rose. She put her hands on the wall and took some deep breaths. It was mind over matter. She could climb, and had done previously. She just needed to focus her mind and place hand over hand, foot over foot. She couldn't let her mind drift or let Scorpius irritate her.

In the end, it turned out Scorpius's jabs were for naught, for she beat him to the top.

"I usually fly a broom," was all Scorpius said as he peered back over the edge. "Our leaving might be a tad unconventional."

She was about to ask why it would be unconventional when she realised he was no longer there; he was already walking across the roof to the 'front' side. She squinted her eyes to see his form and followed.

The wind was gustier up higher and her face was getting soaked regardless of her hood, she didn't want to think of her poor backpack, Rose hoped the insides were dry.

Scorpius crouched near the edge to look down at the land below. Rose hesitated behind him. She was watching with much trepidation, but she wasn't about to let Scorpius see it. She sat down on her arse and scooted closer to him, to the edge. As long as she was seated and not close to the edge, she would be fine. . .

Scorpius eventually pulled back and sat closer to where she was. Then he started talking.

The warehouses, called 'the Hatch' by the gangmembers, were where half of them slept and it was where they did business and discussed territory. The main floors weren't habitable for humans because of years of water getting into the floorboards. Rose could have kicked herself when he told her that like it was completely obvious.

Snakebitten dealed primarily in drugs and it was also a place where people came to get 'spiffed' as it was called. Occasionally, Scorpius pointed out a few of the people that came into view walking across the grounds. She couldn't see their faces perfectly but she had a better idea of their walk and their build. Jims and Rata were patrols, the former a muggle. Jean, Frogspawn, and Heather were all door guards but lived out in London. Anderson was a foreigner and very superstitious. He just wandered around from patrols to guards to management. All the patrols were pairs of magical folk with a muggle because they interacted with both the magic and muggle London together. Flamesy, Rebecca's husband, was third in command to Gradford, the leader of Snakebitten. He was a recruiter and was constantly out in London.

At one point Scorpius was poking her and pointing out through the rain. "That's Matild. Potioneer. He rarely comes here, prefering to work at his house." He just looked like a black blob in the distance, Rose didn't know how Scorpius distinguished him.

The rain put an absolute damper on things. Moreso because they weren't under shelter; they were just sitting in the open. Rose wasn't going to complain if Scorpius didn't say anything.

There was really no conversation going on. Scorpius talked, she listened. There were many empty silences. He didn't share anything and neither did she. They didn't joke, didn't share anything personal, didn't discuss friends and family. It was strictly information, but it was strangely peaceful.

They sat until their spells wore off. Rose could make out Scorpius much better. He was no longer a wavery form beside her. At the very least he was as wet as her.

Perhaps it was the illusion of nobody around in the bad weather or the fact that nobody had been on the roof yet, but they forgot they were in enemy territory and weren't alone.

Eventually they heard a shout from behind them long after the spells were off. Scorpius quickly jumped up in surprise and swore.

There was a head poking up from a roof hole that was shouting at them to get back inside the Hatch.

Scorpius was looking at his watch, half in disbelief. "I swear we had twenty more minutes. They've changed times again. Fuck. I guess we _are_ leaving unconventionally."

"Climb back down?" Rose asked. The easiest would be to apparate away, but if he meant unconventional -

She stood up and nervously brushed her raincoat down. If this turned into a duel she didn't know how she would fare.

Scorpius noticed her nervousness. "We're not staying. We've got to leave before they reach us." He sent up a shield charm and walked to the edge of the roof to look down at the ground. "Looks like they haven't raised the alarm to the other warehouses yet. They probably think we're spiffed and snuck up. You ready?"

Rose sat back down to scoot herself closer to the edge. Scorpius took one giant step to her side and hauled her right back up. "What are you doing?" he hissed. He pulled her a few steps forward but Rose pulled back as much as she could.

"I'm not just going to walk right up to the edge!"

"We're not climbing! We don't have time to climb down! We're jumping and then running to the edge of the apparation boundary and getting the hell away from here. As soon as the alarm is set, this place gets swarmed with gang members. It would almost be suicide to be caught here."

Rose felt really cold all of a sudden and her knees felt week; they almost gave out on her. "I can't jump."

"Of course you can." He tugged her arm which she ripped out of his grasp and took a few steps away, putting her hands up to stop him.

"No. . . I'm serious. I – No. I would rather face whoever came through that roof than jump. I can't. Physically – mentally, I - I just can't." Her legs were like iron, she couldn't move them. They were a few stories up, jumping would mean death. The image of Rick and Danny falling flashed over and over in her head. She couldn't jump.

It seemed like the woman was tired of yelling at them to hurry up. She emerged to the roof with someone and started walking towards them.

"We're not jumping to our deaths," Scorpius said quickly. Rose cringed. "I'll do a cushioning charm. And then we'll run like hell. Thankfully with the weather they have poor visibility. And they haven't seen our hair colour because our hoods are up."

She had to make him understand. Her legs wouldn't move at all. If it was fight or flight, she would be a stature, subject to whatever was thrown at her, unable to move one iota. Luckily her mouth was moving.

"I – there was an accident back – I saw. . ." her voice got squeaky high. She didn't want to tell him anything. But she didn't know how else to convey her fear. She could climb down if she went slow – but jump, that was asking too much too soon.

"Rose we have to leave now!"

Again he pulled her arm abruptly and she was thrown off balance. Her heavy legs reluctantly took a step forward. But she kept stalling, pulling back. He was only a few inches taller than her so her height helped her hold her ground. It was the weight factor where she didn't hold a candle, and he was stronger than her. Nonetheless, she still resisted. Her instincts went against everything Scorpius was saying. She could see annoyance on his face.

She looked back at the two people with wands out that were getting closer by the second.

"There's only two of them!"

"Goddammit Rose. They have a system. We. Can't. Stay." And with that he practically swooped her up in his arms, her long legs flailing in the air and her hands grasping desperately at his shoulders - to push away, but he took the few steps to the edge, and leaped.

Her eyes stared down towards the ground they were approaching as wind blew her hood back from her face. She felt empty and the images of Danny and Rick falling kept replaying in her head, that warm sunny day, so different from today. . . She closed her eyes and accepted the pain and inevitable death that would come when she hit the ground. Scorpius then squeezed her tighter while he waved the arm underneath her legs and Danny and Rick went flying from her mind and she focused on the realness of Scorpius to keep the memories away. . .

But then they landed and he dropped her legs - there was a moment of clarity where she had her strength back - she pulled her fist back and punched him in the face. Hard.

He was pulling and tugging her forwards at a fast pace. They were running and there was shouting from the roof and then behind them; a few spells were shot from a few different directions - Rose noted the red and yellow flying by. Scorpius shot a few back over his shoulder. Rose just concentrated on her feet moving. The pace was dictated by Scorpius who was constantly pulling her hand.

She felt horrible for reasons she couldn't quite put to words.

Then they reached the spot and in an instant they were gone; apparated away by Scorpius's quick wand work.

By the time they reached the muggle coffeeshop, Rose was shaking. Her hands wouldn't stop, her arms. Her legs wouldn't support her. As soon as they sat down her head was on the table covered by her arms. She welcomed the darkness and warmth of that brief shelter.

They both were absolutely drenched. Having spent the better part of the day outside in the rain, raincoats only stopped so much. Running in the rain didn't help either.

Scorpius bought her a black coffee and sat across from her in the booth.

Rose kept her face to the table but unwrapped one arm to hold the coffee. It felt wonderfully warm in her hand.

"I don't know why you're the one with your face down, I'm the one who just got punched. And hard. You could have used less force, my face is going to be purple tomorrow."

She was not impressed. "You deserved it." The hand she punched with felt a bit swollen. She peeked through her arm at him. He was looking at her with concern. His face was already puffy from where the punch landed. He kept opening and closing his jaw and massaging the skin with his fingers. It was one small victory to her. He also got attacked by the owls a few hours ago and the scratch marks were still visible on her hands.

Her coffee was well on its way to being warm when Scorpius finally asked, "why couldn't you jump?"

Rose exhaled loudly for his benefit.

"We_ need_ to have this discussion. Why couldn't you jump today? I understand it's – undesirable, but the way you were acting – dangerous things will happen when we're out looking for Canwood. Jumping _should_ be the least of your worries."

She lifted her head from the table and gave him a look of 'I don't want to talk about it.'

He didn't accept that. "Bloody hell Weasley! Where's the adventurous girl I kept hearing about from your bloody family who went off into the world? Where's the Rose who doesn't shut up and insists on arguing all the time. I thought you were impulsive and took risks? Jumping off a roof is nothing – "

"Shut up." She said that colder than she meant. Scorpius stopped. Waiting. Watching. "You don't know anything. There are reasons why . . . I'm not discussing them with you. It's none of your business."

"It is now," Scorpius said softly. He scratched his head and put his head in his hands, rubbing his face roughly. "Today was a rather - eventful start. We're going to be spending the next weeks together, we need to learn more about our limitations and. . . get some things out in the open. Things that should have been said a few years ago. . . We need to move forwards and be open for this to be an effective partnership. I'm your best bet for finding Canwood, but if we're lacking communication. . . that just invites the possibility of mistakes and injuries."

Rose half-heartedly shrugged her shoulders. It sounded personal. She didn't want to get personal with Scorpius, or open up because she couldn't say anything about the bracelet or the contract. . . but it honestly wouldn't be that bad of an idea.

_You'll need to do this if you're working together_, Marta said. _It would do some good, for you both_.

_Don't let him in_, Greg said. _He'll only hurt you again._

_I know, but the alternative is worse._ . . Rose thought back. It wasn't a very confident thought. She was tired of running from everything in her life.

"Friday." Scorpius decided. "We're taking the night off. I'll be over with some firewhisky."

"Firewhisky. . . ?"

"Well, something's got to loosen our tongues. Our sheer obstinate personalites won't work. If you have a better idea, by all means let me know."

She took a sip of her cold coffee. She didn't have any other ideas.

It was sure to be a lovely time.

x-x-x-x-x


	20. Firewhisky and confessions

October 9, 2026

* * *

><p>Friday evening came way quicker than she would have liked.<p>

Rose was pacing frantically back and forth in the kitchen. Molly, Lucy, and Dom weren't home. They weren't home and Rose wasn't sure when they would be back. It was the worst timing ever on their parts!

She was expecting Scorpius any minute and she thought at least one of her cousins would be there; she really didn't want to be alone with him in their flat. Oh, she was anxious.

It was evening now and her whole day had been a waste. Her nerves were frazzled.

At quarter to nine there was a knock on the door.

_Oh snap. Oh snapohsnap. Fuck. Do I really have to go to the door_, Rose asked herself._ Won't he just go away. . ._

_He won't, _common sense told her.

_This is a stupid idea. Don't drink too much, _Marta advised. _You don't want to do anything ridiculous like sign contracts to bounty hunt again._

She made sure her long sleeved shirt was all the way to her wrists and quickly checked her appearance in the mirror.

_I shouldn't have showered, _Rose thought, _my hair is going to get frizzy. Really quick. _

Maybe she shouldn't have worn her old trousers. Or maybe she should have –

There was another knock on the door.

_Fuck, stop worrying about my appearance! It's just Malfoy! _

_Just hex him and leave him here while you go out, _Greg told her. But she wouldn't. She wouldn't chicken out.

She had seen him every day, alone, for almost a week now. She didn't know why this was the moment when she was caring about her clothing, worried about being alone, and fretting about him.

She briefly calmed herself down and opened the door to a solemn looking Scorpius. He was holding a brown paper bag in one hand and standing upright and still, not his usual nonchalantly leaning against the wall.

"Evening," he said softly. He was dressed in a pair of black trousers with a loose blue jumper. "Can I come in?"

Rose moved out of the way and he walked by, removed his shoes, and looked back at her. His blonde eyebrows were raised. "Kitchen or living room?"

Rose shrugged. _Neither_, she wanted to say. _Let's ignore the past and not dig up old skeletons. _

"Well let's sit at the table then."

He pulled the firewhisky out of the bag and set it in the middle of the small table. Rose sat down in the chair opposite him.

"So here's how it's going to work," Scorpius said. His hair was just as wet as hers and looked dark. He also smelled good; like pine and the outdoors, fresh smells. She breathed in his scent and felt comforted; those smells were familiar and dear to her. The bottle of firewhisky that sat between them glistened in the dim lights.

"We will take turns asking questions to each other. Say for example if I ask you a question that you find too intrusive or personal – instead of answering it you'd do a shot. If you do answer it, then I would have to do the shot. We then switch back and forth with questions. The point is to answer as honestly as you can. We'll even add some water to the shots to water them down at the beginning because firewhisky is rather potent and we don't want to finish too quickly."

He was staring directly into her eyes as he explained, his hands only moving briefly to set up the two shot glasses. She could barely find the will power to look away, too entranced by his brown eyes she was. She had been dreading this day since Scorpius suggested it. In a way she understood completely why they needed to do this; they couldn't be working effectively together until they trusted each other a bit more. They needed to unload a few burdens.

She just didn't want to risk her big secrets getting out in the open to someone who could potentially be her downfall.

Scorpius went to the cupboards and filled two glasses of water, placing one in front of Rose before he sat himself back down in his seat.

"If you do this with your coworkers I'm surprised you don't use veritaserum," commented Rose. She never would have consented to this if they did use veritaserum. "You'd think you would have that clearance and then you would know if people are speaking honestly."

"Veritaserum is rather. . . _dangerous_ to have at this time. And nobody should be forced to reveal things they are not comfortable with. It would do more harm than good when working together. The point is to learn boundaries." Scorpius then exhaled loudly. "Ready?"

"No," she said truthfully.

"Same," Scorpius said. He filled the shot glasses a little less than half full of water and filled the rest with firewhisky. Rose grabbed hers and pulled it close to her. It looked so innocent just resting on the table. However, she knew from one past experience that it would burn as it went down.

He nodded at her. "You can ask the first question – just start simple."

What did she want to ask him? The past few days she had been thinking of questions yet she couldn't recall any of them at this moment.

_His job? _Marta suggested.

"How do you like being an Auror?"

That had to be the easiest place to start – a question about his job. But Scorpius looked a little embarrassed and turned from her gaze. He didn't say anything but lifted up the shot glass and drank his shot, wincing only slightly.

"What was your favourite country you visited in your years of travelling?" he asked.

Rose just stared at him with her mouth hanging open. "Wait – what? You're not answering that question? I thought that was the easiest place to start!"

He stared at his long fingers as he laced and unlaced them together. "It's a bit more complicated than I'd like to share right off the bat. However, If you remember you can ask that one later. . ."

He indicated for her to answer the question.

_Be honest, be open._ "Well, there was no country that I _hated_; every place was beautiful in different ways. But, I would have to say Brazil. Hugo and Lucy flew from England and were with me for one month over there. It was like, like I saw the country in a completely different light than any other place. Everything was much more relaxed, and playful. To see family again and have them travel with me for a few weeks, it just made the country. . . brighter somehow."

Scorpius refilled his shot glass and raised it to her before he drank it down, slamming it on the table afterwards. "That was – that was a good start to this. Good answer."

"Er – thanks. My turn. Why did you move in with Albus a few months ago?"

"I moved out of my parents' house a few months before I moved in with Albus. I was living in a flat by myself yet still found myself at Al's most nights anyway with him and Ty. It's – well I found it lonely to just live by myself. Then Ty decided to go live with his girlfriend and Al asked if I wanted to move into the empty room."

That seemed like an honest enough answer. Rose lifted the shot glass up and tipped it back. True to its name, it burned on the way down and Rose coughed, half-choking on the drink.

"Fuck that's nasty!" She shook her head and shoulders to try to get rid of the taste. "I haven't had firewhisky in so long."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "Well when was the last time you had it?"

Firewhisky was still burning in her throat as she answered. "At Hogwarts in Seventh year. It was just one glass. This is the first time I've had some since then. Because I didn't travel with a wand or interact with the magical community at all I just drank muggle alcohol while being away. This is a bit stronger than most of theirs, and Merlin, it burns more! I'll be fine in a few more shots; I just have to get used to it again."

"Fair enough. I'm not the biggest fan of it really. . . it's just the only alcohol I've ever used for this." He gave a small grin at her before he took his shot.

They continued to ask questions back and forth, taking their respective shots. The firewhisky stopped burning after the fifth, and by the eighth they were both very buzzed. They continued with easy questions. "Who was the most memorable person you met?" (An old fella named Fax. He had the most amazing stories about his life as a packer on mountains). "Your most embarrassing moment at work?" (One of the first people I had to bring in with my job managed to vanish my clothes and then bolted away on me. I – er – was in a muggle store and was. . . stuck for some time. I did find him two weeks later.)

"How long did you end up dating Hermione Smeaton for after Hogwarts?" (With a pained look on his face Scorpius said, "two years. Two years too long.)

Rose, dangerously, had rolled up her sleeves to her elbows to combat the heat in the room, exposing the cursed bracelet for the first time to someone. Her hair had dried wildly and was rather poofy, but she had loosened up and didn't have as many reservations of Scorpius. He wasn't even really Scorpius anymore – if she unfocused her eyes he was more of a giant blonde blob.

When he asked why she was looking for Canwood, Rose had to take a shot. Scorpius didn't even seem surprised. He didn't ask any more questions after that pertaining to what she was doing.

"What did you see in Smeaton?" Rose asked. She ran a hand through her hair to push it back out of her face.

Scorpius shut his eyes with a groan and flopped his head down on the table.

"I don't know. . . At Hogwarts, it was like we were in our own world. I never really thought about the _after_ or anything outside of that castle. I thought I was living in the present. Smeaton was attractive, rather intelligent, and she was nice." Rose gave a cough and Scorpius amended, "to me, at least. I tended to ignore the few stories people said about her being a rude. I also knew she didn't like you which I considered a benefit; it wasn't exactly a secret to me that you fancied me. And honestly, knowing that, it scared me. I think I turned to her because I knew that maybe you would keep your distance, and stop fancying me. I'm sorry to say that I always saw you as Al's weird cousin. . . But after graduation, I started working with muggles, something that I never had done before. I started to see how – judgemental and caddy she could be. I can't really remember _all_ the reasons why I did date her because I can think of a few times in the relationship when I wanted to break it off, but didn't. She, she was something else, I'll give you that."

"She was a bitch. Plain and simple," Rose said. Scorpius reluctantly lifted his head from the table to look at her and she raised her glass to him before tipping it back. These were straight shots now; there was no more water.

"Well, let's hear about your ex then Weasley. Muggle, his name was Danny, didn't know you were a witch. What's the story there?"

Rose ran her hands through her hair, pulling it tightly back from her head. "I feel like just taking a drink to spare you the shit show that our relationship turned out to be," she said bluntly. A few shots ago she might not have shared, but it didn't seem like such a big deal now to tell Scorpius.

"Dooooon't," Scorpius drawled, plainly curious. "Drinking is the easy way out. You should share. I told you about Smeaton."

"It's long," she said. He nudged her onwards. "Alright. . ." Scorpius straightened up and rested his chin on his folded hands as he gave his attention to her.

With the liquor fueling her she talked. She started from the very beginning, the first time they met, and ended with her visit last week to him. She told him about how he was before and what the accident did to him. She told him how their relationship slowly disappeared, how he stopped trying and she just wanted to escape. She told him about Rick and the accident that changed everything, even changed her somehow. Rose did shorten the story where she could but it still took some time to tell.

When she finished, Scorpius reached across the table and grabbed her hand, just holding it and squeezing tight.

"I'm so sorry Rose. About him, about the circumstances. About Rick. It's hard to imagine. And I'm sure it was hell to go through. You're – you're amazing and strong."

She felt rather numb after exposing herself to him. He know knew the whole story. Her parents, Al, Molly, Dom, Lucy, Hugo – nobody knew the _whole_ story yet. Rose was sure they could piece some of it together if they tried. They would be the next people she opened up to.

He gave her hand one last lingering squeeze and pulled back to his chair, took his shot and looked at Rose. What he noticed about her changed in the past few hours, and not totally because of the firewhisky. As they were opening up to each other he was seeing her in a little different light. He never could have guessed what she went through. Her facial expressions and body language didn't give any clues as to what lay beneath the surface.

"Bathroom break," Rose said and scurried off and locked herself in the small room before Scorpius could so much as blink. She sat on the tub ledge, staring into space; she just needed a moment. She couldn't help the few tears that fell down her cheeks and she blamed the alcohol.

Before she went back out she washed her face with water a few times, scrubbing at her cheeks roughly. She felt very light but at the same time felt as if she was so heavy she could barely move.

"So you know my biggest fear right now is falling. . . and heights. What's your biggest fear?"

Scorpius frowned. "I – I don't think I have a fear."

"That's a lie. Everyone has a fear of something. What was your boggart in the form of?"

"It was a vampire. I've moved on from that. That was a child's worries. . . but. . . "

"Yes?"

"It's not so much a fear. . . as just an anxiety that I'm aware of. I've always noticed it and just recently made the connection between the feeling and where I was when it happened."

"So it's a fear."

"Well. No. I don't get scared. I can just get easily panicked. I can deal with it still."

"So it's a fear then. It's the same with me. I'm not physically scared of heights, just nervous with them now. I can still climb and go up high; I'm just really cautious and am always aware of what I'm doing. I can slip easily into an anxiety attack if I let my mind wander."

"Okay. Perhaps. My 'fear' I suppose is crowds and lots of people grouped around where I am. I get easily panicked when I'm in a place that is congested and I'm out in the middle and can't move. If there's attention on me it gets worse and I get nervous and can't focus. I can be in crowds as long as I'm near the edge or around an exit. Or if there is something I have to focus on so intently it replaces that. . . fear."

That made Rose pause for a second. That was illuminating. . . It partly explained a few incidents for her, some things that never quite added up.

Then it was his turn for a question again. Scorpius wanted to get to the big subject of the night. He was ready. So was she.

"Alright, let's take a leap back a few years. Seventh year at Hogwarts. Quidditch final. Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Why did you think I tanked the game? You've been rather vocal about your opinions back then, and even now actually."

Rose could recall that game quite well in her mind. It was the second day after that terrible Hogwarts dance and nobody was ready for Quidditch, yet the game came. Rose had been dragged against her will to it by Whitney on the strict condition that they had to sit on the highest stands away from the Hogwarts students.

It turned out to be a brutal game. Scorpius was the Keeper and he let in shot after shot. The game ended quicker than most people realised, and it was a catastrophe. Gryffindor lost 390-90. Whispers started during the game and continued after. They all believed Scorpius deliberately lost the game and didn't even try for his own house. It was a crap game for a final; so many easy shots were let in.

"You might not believe me, but I don't think you purposely lost the game for your house," Rose revealed. She was embarrassed about this. She saw Scorpius's surprised face before she turned away. "I know for a fact you didn't. You were a true Gryffindor. The rumours only started because of your last name and because the final was against Slytherin. Some students made the connection. . . I saw you briefly before the game and at that point I knew it wasn't going to be good for you. You were dazed and not really there. It's just I knew that those rumours were floating around, and I knew that other people believed it. I only said it to you because I knew it would hurt you. That was me fishing for something in revenge. It was cruel of me, so I'm sorry. Those rumours were undeserved."

Scorpius looked partly relieved. "They weren't quite undeserved. I did play like shit. And the worst part is that I can't even really remember the game. It was all surreal – and blurred; I wasn't ready for it. I'm glad that I don't have to convince you otherwise. Even, everything. If I could go back to the last few months of Hogwarts, there would be so much I would do differently."

"What would you all do differently?" asked Rose. She looked out the window into the night sky. Rain was gently hitting the window pane and the moon was hidden behind the grey clouds that persisted to hang around. It had to be past midnight. The only lights on in the flat were in the kitchen and the whole place was dark.

"Get rid of Hermione Smeaton. Study for NEWTS more. Return library books on time. Take the time to talk to friends more and not take their friendship for granted. Apologise to you – or better yet, redo the dance and that whole day. I know. . . I know I treated you horribly. I know. I just – I kept going back to that day. Over and over and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Rose. Was I." He took a deep breath. "Was I the reason you went travelling around the world; left everything and everyone behind?"

The firewhisky no longer burned, but her throat felt rather raw. She blinked a few times at him, trying to clear her eyes.

"Not totally. But I'm not going to lie and say you had no influence. Everything was just moving too fast. My mum got me a job at the Ministry and I didn't want to work there at all. I just couldn't say no and see the disappointment in her eyes. I really didn't know what I wanted to do, but it seemed everyone had opinions about where I should be. At that Ministry job all the employees hated me and thought I only got the job because of my last name – which _was_ true. It was miserable there and I was looking for an escape. But, I'm also a lousy witch," she said, confessing, "everyone always expected so much from me. They expected me to be my mum and I wasn't. Half my grades were crap and I constantly did stupid and embarrassing things. Everything was spinning uncontrollably around me and I didn't know how to stop it. I didn't know who I was in that spinning mess. I just wanted to leave and find myself. I'd never been anywhere where nobody knew me, or my name and I was restless. It wasn't j_ust_ you, but I was really embarrassed after that dance. All the ideals and fancies in my head were shot down and stripped bare. The stupid press kept putting up ridiculous stories and pictures of me and I was losing it. The next thing I knew there was a ticket to France in my hand that I don't exactly remember buying and I was gone the next day."

He took his shot. "I remember when I first heard the news about you leaving. It was only a few months after graduation and I was, well in my mind, I was going to apologise to you. I was scared though, and kept putting it off. And then you were gone. And nobody was exactly sure where you were - they just knew France. They didn't know how long; they didn't know how much money you had; they didn't know where you were staying. You were just gone. The next thing I heard was that you sent a postcard from the Ukraine. And that was it. You were gone and I started work and everything just got pushed back. "

Rose nodded at him. "What was going through your head that day? The night of the dance?"

"The night of the dance. I'm going to start the day of the library, when Albus and I were finishing up the Charms essay." Scorpius said, sounding like he had rehearsed it beforehand many times. "You came to the library when we were just finishing up and I saw you slinking around behind the shelves and pointed you out to Al. To bug me, he called you over to come talk. He also knew you fancied me and liked putting me into awkward positions. Besides his ulterior motive, I think he did have something to ask you, but you were nervous. And you were half stumbling all your words together. I guess Al just gave up trying to get a coherent answer out of you and said he had to leave – but of course not before mentioning that stupid dance.

"I remember when you offered to carry my books. I was rather smug and thought it hilarious that a. . . well I'm not proud of my thoughts. . . but hilarious that a Weasley, namely you, would carry them around for me. So I let you. I never took you seriously, never thought about feelings, emotions, and what you would think. I knew they were heavy and I knew I was – abusing the _friendship _that you held for me. I didn't stop myself though, I just let it happen. My mind was off wandering and then we were at my common room before I quite realised it and you were talking again. . . Not really listening coupled with your stuttering meant I didn't understand or catch a word of what you said. And that's the sad fact. If I was paying more attention then maybe the whole debacle could have been avoided. I just shrugged at you and said yes to whatever you had said to get you to leave because I was _bored _and wanted to go practice Quidditch. . . Your face had momentarily lit up before you turned away and I did briefly wonder what you asked, but not enough to track you down later to ask."

Rose was intently looking at him, watching his face and his eyes. Scorpius was staring down at the table as he talked. He kept an even tone, without fluctuating up or down.

"The night of the dance approached and I ended up asking Smeaton. I didn't realise it but I guess it was kind of assumed by her, and everyone, that I would go with her because we were dating at that time. I hate dances. So I was honestly planning on skipping the whole thing. Al had known my aversion to dances but he still had to tell you I didn't have a date that day in the library. Smeaton wouldn't let me skip and I very reluctantly decided to go and only stay for ten minutes, regardless of how much she whined. To piss her off I wore some black and orange dress robes, even though her dress was some other colour and we didn't match. She knew there was going to be a photographer there for the students and we had to show up right when the doors opened and she had to be the first one in so she could get her picture, sit at the table and remark to me what everyone was wearing. It was incredibly caddy and I tuned her out completely and was planning my escape.

"Then I guess you entered at that time and next thing I knew I was being violently dragged to the dance floor and in my hand was the red drink I hadn't had time to set down. She stopped walking somewhere in the middle and I got really nervous and there were students all around us who were pushing against us. I told Smeaton off at that point because I needed to get out of the Great Hall. I was about to leave when you showed up suddenly in front of us in your light blue dress robes. And you looked beautiful and. . . _different_. It was like wearing dress robes boosted your confidence and you had this glow about you. I got even more nervous at that point. Smeaton was petting my arm and I just needed space and you asked for a dance with me. Your face – I remember you were avoiding looking at Smeaton. She then just said incredibly rude things to you and you were confused and Smeaton realised that you thought we were going to the dance together – she pushed closer to me somehow and it was really hot in the room and somehow all the attention of the other students was on us. . . I used my idiotic mouth to try to get you to leave so Smeaton would leave me alone. I said horrible things and it was like my mouth wouldn't stop moving and the words kept coming out. I'm sorry about everything I said. I just couldn't think straight. And then I don't know exactly what happened but the arm Smeaton was holding was moving forwards quickly and my cup was flying out of my hand and then the juice was all over you and on your face. You had such a shocked look on your face and we both turned to leave, but I was standing on your robes somehow and they ripped. . . All the students were laughing and you tried to cover yourself up and then you ran out. . . The photographer snuck pictures of the incident, blew everything wildely out of proportion, sold it to the press, and it was in the newspapers the next day. "

Scorpius shrugged helplessly. "That's everything as far as I can remember. I feel like I can't apologise enough for my actions. I keep going back to that day. It was my attitude, it was the atmosphere, it was the room, it was the people, it was my stupidity not to see what was happening and prevent it from happening. I'm sorry."

She let everything soak in. His explanation helped make everything clear, and she could understand more of what was going on during the incident.

"I – I forgive you," Rose told him. He jolted upwards and looked at her, stunned. He didn't think she would go down without a fight. "It wasn't just you, it was Smeaton as well. And well I'm tired of letting that bog me down. It's in the past, now, we can only move on. I forgive you."

She filled her shot glass did her shot. There was only about a quarter of the firewhisky left in the bottle. The two sat in silence for twenty minutes, contemplating everything they'd learned so far with their hazy minds. Scorpius picked up the liquor bottle and swooshed it around.

"I can't believe we almost finished this off."

"Are you not feeling it yet? I'm at the point where I know if I drink more that it won't be good."

"It's a shame not to finish the bottle though. . . do you have any more questions?"

Rose shook her head.

"I don't either. Well, shot for shot to finish it off?" Scorpius filled up their glasses.

"I'm going to hate you tomorrow for this," Rose said as she raised hers at him. "Cheers."

"Cheers."

* * *

><p>"I'll tell you a sec - a seckret," Scorpius mumbled out forty five minutes later. The firewhisky bottle was on its side, empty. "I've another fear - feurh that I nevar told you. Nevar evar. It's you. You scare me Rose. Sooo much. You have alwayyyyys."<p>

Rose wasn't listening to him at all. It was like her neck didn't want to support her head anymore and she set it on the table.

"Alrighhhht Rosee. I'm going back thataway," he raised his hands and pointed behind him towards where the bedrooms and loo were. "I think the firewhisk is empt-y, all empt-y now. I. Sleep."

Turns out they were both on the brink of foolish drunk when they had started shot for shot. Rose was undeniably and completely smashed now. She didn't know how many shots they just did but she was out as soon as her head hit the table.

Scorpius got up and stumbling and leaning against the walls he disappeared down the hallway to an oblivious and sleeping Rose.

Unfortunately she wasn't able to get into a deep sleep before she was woken abruptly by a loud bang from below their apartment floor. She shot upwards with a start. Her stomach started turning and gurgling and her vision was blurring.

With one hand across her stomach, she painfully got out of her chair and made her way to the bathroom. She stubbed her toe on the doorway before just making it to the toilet to heave the contents of her stomach up.

Afterwards she sat on the ground and put her head on the toilet seat.

"Never. Firewhisky. Drinking. Fuck. Fuck. Stupid." Her stomach was still gurgling and then she threw up again, now emptying her entire stomach.

"Fuck. Malfoy. Idiot. Scorpius. Drinking. Done." She was tired, and everything was spinning. She laid her head down on the toilet seat again and then discovered there was vomit in her hair.

Oh, why did she go shot for shot with Scorpius! Rose closed her eyes again and had a very brief nap. Her limp head fell off the toilet and hit the floor with a thud.

"Nooo, leave me alone mum," she moaned as she rolled onto her back and opened her eyes. The white of the bathroom ceiling stared back. Very slowly she got up and turned on the shower, stripping to her bra and underwear and got in. The water was absolutely freezing but she couldn't find the effort to change it.

Luckily she remembered to turn the water off when she was done. Leaving all her clothes strewn on the bathroom floor, she padded to her room, threw on the lights, and put on her flannel pyjama bottoms, one leg slowly at a time over her wet undergarments.

"Oh, shit." She put her head against the wall as her stomach started turning. "I need to go to bed. I. . . stupid. . . ugh." She held her shirt in her hands, but didn't put it on.

She turned off the lights and sat down on her bed, ready to crawl in under the covers. But somebody was already there. She was sitting on a torso.

"What?"

She squinted her eyes through the dark and saw Scorpius laying down.

"What?" It took her a few moments to comprehend what she was seeing.

"This is _my_ bed. . . Scorpius. Scorpius. Scorpius." She was pushing his shoulder with her hand. "Wake up. Scorpius. Scorpius."

There was no movement from him.

"Scorpius. Scorpius. You're layin on my blankets. Scorpius. . . At least give me my _pillowwww_," she whined. She felt rather cold but it didn't even occur to her to put her shirt on. If her bed was larger she might have even fell asleep next to him, but instead, when he didn't respond to her prodding, she gave up, slid off the bed, bunched her tee shirt up, and used it as a pillow on the floor. She was shivering from her cold shower and managed to curl up into a tiny ball on her side. It didn't take long to fall asleep.

A few hours later she woke up and her stomach was gurgling again. She changed positions to try to appease it and pulled the blankets up higher.

Blankets?

She didn't have any blankets before! Scorpius had been laying on them.

She looked over and realised Scorpius must have woken up and put them on her because there was just sheets on the bed now. He also didn't have a pillow and Rose realised it was under her own head now, her shirt pushed to the side.

"Idiot." She threw the blanket back over him and re-curled up on her side. "I have pillow and you get blanket. I don't need no chivol – chivalroi – chivalrous bull." She talked herself to sleep.

The next time she woke up the sun was shining _and_ she had the blanket again. The good thing was that her stomach didn't hurt, the bad news was that her head was pounding. She flipped the blanket off her in anger. Then she noticed she didn't have a shirt on.

"Oh FUCK!" Her cheeks turned instantly red and she pulled the blankets back towards her and up to her chin.

"How 'bout I never mention your black lace bra again if you snag me some of Dom's hangover potion."

Scorpius peered over the bed at her, blurry eyed and wild-haired.

"What are you still doing here!"

"You're shriek woke me up. You look like hell Weasley."

"Likewise." She rubbed her eyes and then realised the black bracelet was not covered at all. She quickly threw her hands under the blankets. Scorpius noticed and frowned at her.

"You're in my bed I hope you realise," Rose told him as she sat up and wrapped the blanket around her, keeping her hands hidden.

He gestured to his feet. He still wore his clothes from yesterday though they were quite rumpled. "This is your bed? And your room? The bed wouldn't fit a child! Do your feet not hang out?"

"Yeah they do. I don't even notice it."

Scorpius laid back down and put his arm under his head to hold it up as he looked at her. He ran his hands through his hair a few times making it stick up even more.

"Are we – are we good now?" he asked nervously. "I apologise again and probably will do so for the next few weeks. . . maybe not _good good_, but there's really nothing left to say, right? We can both. . . work together reasonably for right now?"

Rose pulled the blanket tighter around her. "It's better. I mean, we're adults. Can't live in the past forever; there's bigger things to worry about right now." She put the palm of her hand to her temple - the hand _without_ the bracelet. "I mean, never mind. Ignore that and follow me, I think there's some hangover potion in the cupboard."

With the blanket still wrapped around her she walked out the door –

– to a tired looking Molly and Lucy both drinking coffee right outside her room. They were wearing lime green robes and had their hair up in ponytails. Rose could only tell who was who because of the nametags sewn on the robes.

"Good morning," Molly said cheerfully. "Did _you two_ have a good sleep? I noticed the empty firewhisky bottle on the table. I really hope it wasn't just _you two_ who drank the whole thing. Were _you two_ alone all night? And are you a little chilled Rose. You're sure covered up. . ."

"Not that we're implying anything of course," Lucy said as she casually sipped her coffee. "I hope you two had a lovely PG rated sleepover," Molly gave a wicked grin at Rose. Rose scowled at them both.

Scorpius looked at them over Rose's head. "Oooh, coffee. Is there still some in the pot?"

"Help yourself Blondie," Lucy said, with raised eyebrows at Rose.

"We're. . . better," Rose said after Scorpius headed to the kitchen. "Nothing happened though, I swear!"

Molly winked at her. "Sure nothing did. . . But if you head to the kitchen there's breakfast on the table and coffee in the pot. I'll get the hangover potion."

"You two are amazing," Rose said as she tried to untangle a large knot in her hair that was hanging in front of her face. "Seriously. Thanks for everything."

"I'm just glad you have happy hangovers," Lucy told her, "and avoid pulling a 'Dom!'"

X-x-X-x-X


	21. Missing food and a secret tunnel

**A/N:** **Longer A/N at the end. I recommend skimming the past few chapters, just for a brush up!**

* * *

><p>October 10, 2026<p>

* * *

><p>"So, are you going to spill more?" asked Molly after Scorpius left with a promise from Rose that they would meet in an hour at the steps of Webstrians Library. "Why did you two get drunk together and spend the night?"<p>

She looked tired, but at the same time evilly cheerful. They had moved to the kitchen where coffee and breakfast were. Lucy had already relocated to the couch to lay down.

"He apologised and we sort of forgave each other for past transgressions," she said. Molly started smiling.

"It's about bloody time Blondie did something," called out Lucy.

"Yeah. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. He was a lot less of an asshole than usual."

"I'm so glad. Did you two talk about. . . you know. . . " Molly gestured to Rose's wrist.

Rose shook her head and pulled the blanket she still had wrapped around her shoulders tighter. "He's not allowed to know anything Molly. Don't you dare say anything," she whispered so Lucy couldn't hear anything.

"But – "

"No. I've already asked him for help to find Canwood and he doesn't need to know anything else. End of discussion."

Molly drained her coffee and set it down on the table louder than normal.

"Wonderful. I'm glad you care so much for yourself."

"Hey!" Lucy yelled out from the living room. "Speak louder so I can hear. I'm still awake you know."

"I'm going to go change," Rose yelled out and then left her half eaten breakfast to go put on clothes. Thank goodness someone invented hangover potion so she didn't have to spend half the day in bed moaning and groaning. She threw open her blinds in the room, letting the sunlight that had been hidden for a few weeks permeate in, and smiled. "Warmth, I missed you so," she said to the sun.

_First sign of crazy is talking to yourself, _Greg said.

"Actually, first sign of crazy is having voices in your head and second is talking to them. So it seems like I'm already there and might as well embrace it."

She threw her blanket on her bed and put on a long sleeved shirt. Her hair was still a tangled mess but she threw it in a bun to avoid brushing it.

Once her backpack was packed she headed out to the kitchen again to make a lunch to take on the road.

"How long are you two on night shifts?" Rose asked as she dug around, looking for the loaf of bread she used a few days ago. Molly had already pulled out homework and was whittling away at it

"A few weeks. Rotations I tell you, they just like putting us students through extremes. Umm, the bread isn't going to be in there," pointed out Molly as soon as Rose opened up the oven.

"But it's not where it usually is! It can't be gone already, I just opened it."

"Just grab the bagels, I put them by the fridge yesterday morning."

"No bagels!" said Lucy. "I was looking for them before my shift started but I couldn't find them."

"What!" Molly got up and started looking through all the cupboards. She closed each one with a bang when nothing was revealed. "There is no way we're all out. I bought 10! Either we've got a mouse or someone ate them all in one day. . . but that makes no sense! No, I refuse to believe it."

Molly looked at Rose with a frown on her face and Rose raised her hands. "It wasn't me, I swear!"

"Nor I!" came from the living room

"Obviously. I mean it has to be Dom, but that girl doesn't eat bagels. Is she giving them away - ? Where is she, by the way? I feel like this is weird. I haven't seen her in about a week."

Nobody could answer that question.

"I'll just take an apple. Well, the last apple," said Rose as she added it to her backpack.

"What!" shrieked Molly. "There was eight times that amount yesterday! Where is all our food?"

Again nobody could answer that question. Rose left to go meet up with Scorpius.

* * *

><p>She wasn't sure how it was going to be between her and Scorpius now. They got rather personal last night and she hoped it wouldn't be too different.<p>

_Perceptions were the only thing that changed_, Marta told her. _He's still the same and you're still the same._

_But I don't know what to say to him. What if he starts acting nice now?_

_He was acting nice before. He's helping you out; he's not just going to ditch you somewhere._

_Yeah, but I didn't realise he knew I fancied him at Hogwarts. That's so embarrassing. What if he starts pitying me or something else stupid, _Rose said.

_Harden your heart and ditch him while you go look for Canwood, _said Greg. That sobered Rose up. This was strictly business between them. That was all.

When she got out to the library she sat between the two stone lions, in the sun. You never knew how long sunshine would last and she was going to enjoy it after much too long of miserable rain. She started to think about the previous night and everything they shared. Scorpius now knew the whole story about her and Danny. She felt relieved that it was now out in the open. The less secrets she had, the better it would be.

She heard a high pitched laughter from behind her and turned around. And if last night wasn't a huge shock, staring straight at her with her hands on her hips was one Hermione Smeaton.

Rose's mouth dropped.

"Well, I guess you didn't die like I kept hearing. That's Rose Weasley, folks, always living to disappoint." was the greeting Rose received.

The shock of seeing Smeaton standing before her was enough to keep Rose quiet. She just stared; she was so surprised to see her that no words were coming to mind. In the four or so years since she last saw her, Smeaton was largely unchanged from Hogwarts. Her black hair was the same length (resting on her shoulders), she was wearing wizarding robes not dissimilar to their old uniforms. The only perceivable difference was that she looked like she gained a little bit of weight in the few years. She still had a pretty face though, and piercing blue eyes.

"Maybe you just got stupider?" Smeaton was looking at her with derision obvious in her face. Rose felt her disgust rise up in her. She didn't even want to talk to her, nonetheless look at her. She turned back around and didn't say anything.

Smeaton wasn't taking any of that. She walked to the front of Rose and stood there again. Rose couldn't help but gaze upon her.

"I have no desire to talk to you," Rose said frankly. "You can continue on your way and pretend you didn't see me sitting here and we'll leave it at that."

"How can I leave when we haven't spoken in so long? No one else reacts as atrociously as you."

Rose rolled her eyes. A four syllable word? She must be reading the dictionary.

"Can't say you've improved with age either. You look just as messy and ugly as you always did."

_You have to respond to something like that. Don't let her win this, _Greg implored.

Rose just didn't care though. Smeaton was obviously still at the maturity of a Hogwarts student.

"In fact, it's almost like it's a family trait. I saw that slut of a cousin of yours. The blonde one? Dominique? Sleeping on the street yesterday in plain view. Merlin she's a mess."

Rose clenched her fists. Smeaton couldn't go five minutes without insulting someone, or lying; Dominique was not a slut and would _never_ sleep in the street. It was much too dirty. But what an odd thing to mention. . .

The only reason Rose wasn't walking away was because she was meeting Scorpius at this spot. Almost as if Smeaton could read her mind, that was what she brought up next.

"Oh cat got your tongue? I bet you're wondering if me and Scorpius are still together so you can see if you can get your claws into him? I'll have you know I'm expecting the question any day now. You can give up any ridiculous fawning."

_Okay, you can't let that one just go by. . . _

"Oh? Is Scorpius aware of that fact? I seem to recall him saying _last night_ that you two broke up two years ago. And that he should have actually done it way sooner than that."

This time it was Smeaton's mouth that dropped. Rose could just see her cognitive pieces motoring in overtime, she mouthed _last night_, as if asking herself a question. Rose waited.

Red tinges started to appear high on her cheeks and with her chin up in the air, she said, "how dare you! Making him cheat on me!"

She came towards Rose with a hand raised as if to slap her, but Rose quickly stood up and backed up a few steps higher.

"Smeaton," Rose said softly. "Just leave. I don't want to deal with this."

Smeaton gave a loud huff, flicked her hair over her shoulder, pulled out her wand, and apparated away with an angry glare. Rose sat down and put her hands on her head.

"_Ooooooh_ man."

_That was the way to deal with it, _said Marta.

Of all people to run into though.

"Dom's hangover potion didn't work?" a voice rang out to her left not thirty seconds later.

Rose jumped about a foot off the step. What was wrong with a simple hello! Scorpius came up to her holding two coffees. He was freshly showered and had changed his clothes. He looked relaxed and had a loose grin on his face.

He frowned. "You look like you've seen a ghost. You're very pale."

"Guess who just walked out of that library," she said.

"Uh. . . Whitney?"

Rose looked away. "Oh I wish. I don't even know where she is these days. . . No it was your ex-girlfriend. The one and only Smeaton."

All the blood seemed to drain out of Scopius's face and he instantly dropped down, hot coffee spilling over and burning his hands. He looked frantically around.

"Fuck! Where is she? Is she still here?"

"No, she's gone," Rose said with a snort of laughter. Scorpius looked so relieved. He set the coffee on the stone steps and was wiping off his hands. "But not before mentioning that you were going to pop the question any day now. Any amendments you'd like to make from last night?"

Scorpius shook his head. "She's delusional. I haven't spoken to her in about a year and a half."

"She really hasn't changed much. Still as rude as ever."

"I don't doubt it. But anyway – here is about, well – half a coffee now. Figured we needed some stimulants for our day today since we had minimal sleep last night."

He handed the coffee off to Rose when his hands were free of coffee and she stood up and walked down the steps to join Scorpius.

"Ready to head out?" he inquired as Rose adjusted her backpack. "You have the invisibility cloak, right?"

Rose nodded.

"Alright, we are going to stake out one of the members today. I was informed by my boss that a fellow named Ratgar has been wandering into Muggle London and is drawing people over. So we're going to see if we can hear the location he's headed. Did you have extra clothes here? We're going to get dirty today."

"I'll be fine," Rose said after she basically finished her coffee with three big gulps. "I packed minimally."

"You're going to need it."

She frowned at him. "Malfoy, I'm fine."

Saying his last name seemed to make him straighten. He looked away from her and finished his coffee as well. "Fine then. Let's go."

That was an abrupt mood change. Rose was slightly taken aback; his whole demeanor was different. The way he stood, how he looked. . .

She followed him to the rubbish bin where they put their coffee cups and without any warning whatsoever, he grabbed her hand and apparated away.

When they landed in the alley she thrust her hand out of his. "What the hell!" she basically spit out. "A little warning would be nice."

His face was expressionless. "Always be prepared for quick apparations."

"Yes I know. But that wasn't a moment where we needed quick apparations! Save it for when it's actually needed."

She didn't know why his mood so abruptly changed, nor why she felt so angry that he was being his annoying self.

Scorpius ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath. Rose could just see his tense shoulders and wondered what caused it.

"Follow me," he said. He walked to the back of the alley and pulled open a wooden door in the side of the building. Rose followed into the inky black darkness.

"_Lumos," _Scorpius muttered. A bright light lit the room and Scorpius threw his bag on the ground before roughly pulling out a bundle of dark clothes. "Layer up. Pick whatever, I don't care."

Rose riffled her foot through the clothes. They were old, black, tattered, and worn. Scorpius picked up a jumper and put it over his head, ruffling up his blonde hair. He smoothed it out with one swipe to the side and looked intensely at her.

"You don't have to. But we're going to be crawling in a tight space that probably isn't that clean." His eyes were challenging her to refuse the clothing, but Rose shut her mouth and pulled on a black sweater that basically hung off of her and went halfway to her knees. She didn't say anything. They both put on black sweats and a balaclava. Everything was large on Scorpius too and Rose didn't dare ask where it came from.

He packed up the few articles of clothing left laying on the floor and shoved them in his bag with unnecessary force.

"I'm sorry," Rose blurted out. Scorpius looked up at her in surprise.

"For what?"

"I don't know! You were fine this morning and now you just seem to be angry. And I'm sorry if I did anything."

Scorpius looked flummoxed and her face was slowly turning red.

_You're an idiot for apologising,_ Greg told her. But there was nothing she could do about it now. She never apologised, why now!

"It's not you," Scorpius said slowly. "I was just thinking about something. Sorry. Umm, we're going to be taking a secret tunnel down. And it's almost 100 years old. There's an extra – layer – I guess you could say over Coffee for Kooks. It's fallen out of memory of the general public but during some human wars, wizards would hide muggles in there. Basically a crawlspace. That's where we're going today. With a charm we can hear what is going on below us, but that means they could hear us too. So we're going to have to be quiet when I say so."

"How many people know about this?"

"Two maybe? I befriended a lady in an alley and she told me about it." Scorpius turned his back on her and walked across the floorboards to a particularly large knothole in the ground. He started waving his wand over it while muttering under his breath. A trapdoor opened and Scorpius jumped down.

Well he gave her no such instructions, but Rose wandered over and stuck her feet down. She didn't like that she couldn't see the bottom, nor see Scorpius at all. But he didn't say anything and nothing seemed dangerous so what the hell – she jumped.

Scorpius gave a garbled scream from under her and it wasn't two seconds later that she felt his hands half catch her and nudge her away so she didn't land right on him. But it wasn't like there was any room to go; her back was up tight against the wall. She could feel his hands on her back and she was squished up against his chest, tight. Her hands were between her and him and she could just make out his outline when she looked up

"You are so lucky you didn't land on my head," Scorpius growled. Rose could feel the vibrations in his chest. And the hardest part was that she couldn't even back away!

"Why aren't you moving?" she demanded. This was too close for comfort.

"I was unlocking the next door," Scorpius said. "It's not open yet."

Her face went red and she was glad that he couldn't see it. His hands were moving on her back, slowly, almost sensually, up. . .

"Why didn't you tell me not to jump?"

"I didn't tell you _to _jump!"

"Well it was implied! You didn't say anything so I assumed I was to follow you."

"No. You weren't."

"I'm not a mind reader. You have to explicitly tell me."

Scorpius huffed loudly. "Noted. Now the door is behind you and I need arm space to do my spell."

Rose tried pushing away but there was literally no space on either side of her or behind. If it wasn't for his hands on her back, she would only feel the wall. He pulled her closer to him and she meeped in protest as she was squished up against him even more.

She could tell he was impatient. "I need more room."

"I could climb back out. . . ?" she offered. If it wasn't so dark in there she would be way more flustered, but as it was she couldn't get far enough away to be comfortable and relaxed.

"There's not an easy way to get out. Duck down."

Like that would be easier. His legs were in the way, but by contorting herself and almost violating Scorpius she managed to sit on the ground. One of her knees was at her eyes and the other was somehow wrapped around Scorpius's legs. There was no room to stretch out and she wouldn't be able to get up unless he moved. And speaking of moving, he shuffled a bit backwards and he kneed Rose in the face.

"OW! Fuck!"

"Sorry! Sorry!" he exclaimed and then moved as if to give her more room but just managed to knee her again in the face. "Sorry." He felt around for her head as if to gauge how much space he had and poked her in the eye.

She grabbed his hand as it started to rapidly backtrack. "Scorpius, stay bloody still or I'll punch your leg."

"Ok. Sorry. I'm doing the spell now. We'll have more space in a moment."

_This has got to be a record number of 'sorry's' spoken so far, _observed Marta.

_It's awkward. We don't know each other very well. Or I know him too well. I don't know._

Her head started hurting as Scorpius was doing more muttering. Her lungs and body felt cramped. She needed space.

"Ok. It's open. I'll climb in first and you can follow me. The area is about a metre and a half directly above you. We'll be crawling for about ten minutes before we reach where we need to be. There will be no light and it's cramped. Just a warning." He shut the trapdoor above their heads, isolating them from the real world and they were plunged into a complete darkness.

"Lovely," muttered Rose to herself. She got another knee in the face as Scorpius pulled himself up above her and into the tunnel. Then she was alone in the cramped space. She used the two sides to pull herself up; her knees and back were touching the wall at the same time. She felt around in the dark as soon as she was standing and located the tunnel. She ran her hands around the edge and then pulled herself in, legs flailing as she climbed very ungracefully inside.

She moved forwards until she felt Scorpius's feet and then they were off crawling. The tunnel was wooden and cramped and completely dark. She only kept going because she could hear Scorpius plodding away ahead of her. The tunnel started sloping upwards. The air she was breathing was stale and dusty and not very pleasant.

Eventually they reached a larger space that was lighter, though Rose couldn't locate the light source. Scorpius crawled a distance away before beckoning her forwards beside him. The most they could do was lay down in the empty area. Scorpius pulled out a clipboard and a pen and pulled off his balaclava. Rose followed suit. Her face felt sweaty and gross and her hair was slicked back, just like his. Their black clothes were covered in dust.

"We're here and will be here for about two hours. As soon as I activate the spell we cannot talk at all. If you need to say anything to me, just write it on paper."

"Ok. What are we listening for?"

"Anything about Snakebitten. This is over the backroom of the coffeehouse so we'll hear lots of unfiltered talk. I'm sure Canwood will be mentioned at some point."

He handed her some paper and an extra pen and then said the spell. Voices filtered in from below.

Scorpius was already writing like mad. Rose could hear three, four voices maybe – but they weren't talking about anything important. Just about buying shirts. Yet there was Scorpius, scribbling away.

Rose settled herself in to listen. At least the baggy clothes were very comfortable.

After about half an hour she heard a voice she vaguely recognised.

" – no you can't keep taking money from here. Do you not understand how a business works? This place is going to get shut down and then where would you lot converge?"

It was Courtney. Rose mouthed to Scorpius "_I know her." _

_Who is she talking to?_ He wrote on his paper back.

Rose shrugged.

"You're such a hussy," said a slow, seductive voice. "The boss will know you're impeding our trade."

"Yeah, well if I don't impede your 'trade' then you will continue to use this coffee house! You can't keep stealing food, money, and coffee. This is ridiculous, there are more people who rely on this place than just you lot! I will not help your 'business' in any way. What you do ruins _lives_!"

There was a loud smacking sound as if a hand were slapping the table. "Your insolence will not be tolerated here. You are worthless for this operation and I suggest you watch yourself over the next few days."

"I was here before you. I suggest _you _watch yourself."

"I'm not the one hiding money."

Rose had a brilliant idea at that moment. She slowly pulled her backpack to her and in the deep recesses of the bottom she found the small cellphone.

After powering it up, she sent out a text.

«Hi, this is Rose – the girl who was inquiring about Canwood. Who are you talking to?»

She pressed send and then heard a ringtone go off below her.

Not even a few seconds later, a reply was sent back. «Some guy called Matild. He's delusional. And crazy. And thinks he's intimidating.»

Courtney didn't even ask how Rose was hearing, which Rose thought was a great character trait. She showed Scorpius the text and his eyebrows shot up.

_Change of plans, _he wrote, _we're following him today._

_Why? _Rose wrote back.

_Because he is the most elusive person ever. He's the potioneer for the whole gang. And impossible to track. Any chance I have, I follow him. _

_Well, I'm trying to find Canwood. Shouldn't it be better if I stay here and listen more while you follow the creepy man?_

Immediately Scorpius shook his head.

_No, it'll be good for both of us. _

And of course the bloody bastard didn't say why.

Rose rested her head on her arms and continued to listen while she typed out another reply. «Does he come by often?»

Another ringing below her and another reply was sent.

«Only when he's not getting his money.»

Rose showed Scorpius.

_Ask her if he'll be by again tomorrow._

_«Yes» _came the reply. «He'll be by every day this week because I'm not keeping any money in the till for his lackeys and he thinks he's sooo much more threatening if he comes himself.»

Scorpius shook his head and wrote to Rose. _Dangerous game she's playing. _

Rose texted back, «Are you trying to get yourself fired?»

«Yes.»

Well that was a sure enough way to do it, Rose only hoped that would be the worst that would befall her.

«Oh, he'll be leaving in a few minutes now. Just waiting to fill up his coffee mug.»

«Thanks.»

Scorpius started moving, packing up his paper and pen and then was crawling away. Rose followed, trying not to breath in the dust they were kicking up with their movements. He got to the wall, did something with his wand again and then crawled through the open space, disappearing.

Rose was right behind him and squeezed herself out of the hole, only to find out that she was in open air and unbalanced. She fell through the air and landed with a thump on her stomach and ribs.

"Fuck," she said, breathless. She rolled over onto her back and rubbed her ribs. That did not feel pleasant.

"Sorry. I probably should have said something."

"You think," she wheezed out. "You're more hazardous to my health than what I was doing before."

Scorpius winced. "I'm sorry. I'm not used to working with anyone."

_Just when you think the record number of 'sorry's' have already been said. . . _ said Greg.

"I'm realising that."

"Err. . . we should probably get going before Matild gets even further away."

Rose held out her hand. Scorpius stared at it for a moment before slowly reaching his down and pulling her up. He held her there for a moment, face to face, before he let go.

"I'm sorry again."

Rose gave a half grin. "It's okay. I should probably not just blindly follow you. And look before I leap. Something I've never really done."

_Wow. Character growth right there,_ said Marta.

_Shut up stupid voice, _Rose replied. They both stripped out of their baggy black clothes and Rose redid her hair.

Scorpius put a disillusionment spell on the both of them and told Rose to put on the invisibility cloak, for the extra coverage.

"I'll be more visible than you, so follow me closely. Watch out for people, look at who Matild looks at, how he reacts to things. And we'll see how things go and where we end up. Sound good?"

"What? You just trust me to follow you?"

Scorpius rubbed the back of his head. "Kinda? Starting over, right?"

They did agree upon a truce the previous night. "Well, sounds good then. Let's bag us a potioneer!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Soo, you're probably reading this and thinking 'what is this chapter to a story that I can only remember in the deep recesses of my mind?' Yes, it's been updated. Only a year later - better late than never, right? Eeeehh. . . I just got a review asking for an update a few hours ago and I had this chapter half written and just thought 'Fuck it, I need to finish writing and get it up.' So guest reviewer, this chapter is for you. Hope it's worth it!**

**I would like to apologise for the lateness of this. I have a quote on my author page that says 'if the muse calls you listen,' and last year I got this crazy idea and wrote a story that turned out to be basically 80,000 words and took a lot longer to write than I thought (It's called Setting the Stage if anyone is interested. It's different and I'm really proud of it). Then I got out of the groove of this story and I'm slowly getting my way back in. But right now I have about 7 stories I'm writing - 3 for school, a sequel to the unexpected (STS) story of last year, this story, and a few real-life-personal stories. This one is slightly sitting on the back burner.**

**What I would like to do is completely finish writing it and then upload on a weekly basis because I know waiting long periods of time between chapters is incredibly frustrating. I do promise that the next update won't be as long as this one was (I will never abandon this story), I just don't know when it will be. I would like this story to be done before next year; now whether that is even feasible will depend on a lot of things. I have gone through and edited the whole thing. I've been doing a few tiny things here and there. Everything except physically writing and finishing it. It shall be done faithful readers! Thanks for your patience!**

**I do hope you all enjoyed this chapter and that the story isn't completely forgotten.**

**Cheers!**


	22. Door chimes and a promise

Oct 10 – 16, 2026

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><p>Scorpius took off after Matild, hugging the wall and staying in the shadows. He was only visible to the trained eye. Rose had a bit more freedom with the cloak and wandered out into the sun keeping the blur that Scorpius was in sight so she didn't miss a turn and lose them both. It was only because she knew where to look that she could see him; the unsuspecting muggles didn't bat an eyelash.<p>

They soon discovered that Matild was doing nothing more than dropping into the small businesses along the stretch and then leaving after only about five minutes. After two hours of wandering around, Scorpius dropped back and looked around for Rose, tapping his foot on the ground twice, their agreed signal. She was only a few steps behind him at that point.

"Yes?"

He jumped a little, not expecting her so quickly.

"He usually doesn't do this job. Sneak in behind him when he goes in the stores and watch. I'll stay outside with the Extendable Ears."

Rose felt a little weird being given that much responsibility, but she complied. She was the one with the invisibility cloak and wouldn't give herself away with the telltale blur. Matild's 'job' appeared to be bullying the workers and stealing their money. He made it easy to sneak in since he always swung the door open wide to announce his presence.

They followed him around all day. By the second day, he was done the strip and was walking to some small apothecaries in the vicinity. Rose snuck in the door each time, still invisible, and tailed him while making observations of what he was getting and how everyone was reacting.

"Ashpödel, caterpillar fungus, and dandelion fuzz," Rose said as she relied what he bought to Scorpius.

His face soured.

"The shopkeepers looked terrified to see him, didn't even ask for any money," added Rose.

"Rumours have probably made him much more menacing than he actually is."

Scorpius split his sandwich with her when they broke for lunch. And then nothing else happened the rest of the day.

Or the three days after that.

At first it was rather exciting wandering around, spying, and sneaking into the places. But by the fourth day Rose was itching to do something else. _Anything_. Matild was so boring; he would start every morning at Coffee for Kooks, yell at Courtney some more because she was still refusing to pay him 'his' money and then he would wander out to visit apothecaries – some he had previously visited.

_Patience, stop moving so much. You're wearing a cloak but that doesn't mean people still can't run into you, _warned Marta after Rose started paying less attention to the muggles around her.

She didn't know what Matild was waiting for. He seemed to hit all the same places day after day. All that meant for Rose and Scorpius was that he was staying predictable and instead of eating while trailing him, they could now sit in the alley when he ate food at a place called Woo's for exactly 28 minutes.

Scorpius remained just as stoic as ever and never seemed disappointed, or frustrated, or bored. He was intent and serious, always focused.

On the sixth day, Rose slipped up. As she was sneaking into the open door of the apothecary, she tripped and fell flat on her face with a loud thud. The door chimes gradually stopped ringing in the quiet room.

"What was that?" Matild said to the shopkeeper, his slimy voice so dangerous.

"I. . . I don't know. Probably a b – box falling."

Rose hastily and quietly tried to get up, but her cloak was caught in the door. Every little tug she gave made the chimes move. She was stuck and couldn't take off the cloak or it would be visible.

_Pull it out, pull it out, _Marta said hurriedly. Rose tugged again, trying to be gentle so there would be no noise. It wouldn't loosen.

_Get your wand out. You might need it! _said Greg. She couldn't even stand up and was huddled on the floor.

_Did Scorpius see me? _she wondered because then he could open the door from the outside. She doubted it though; the door was a heavy wooden one and the sounds were probably masked. She pulled herself as close to the wall as she could, continually pulling and trying to loosen the cloak, her heart beating faster the longer it remained stuck.

Matild was still suspicious even though there was no more noise after the thud. She saw him peek around the corner, the deep wrinkles in his face scrunched up and his piercing eyes alert. He picked up a glass bottle from the shelf and threw it at the door. Rose ducked at the last second and it just narrowly missed her head. It smashed, green inky liquid getting everywhere. Rose froze.

_You need to move. NOW, _her instincts were telling her. But she couldn't. The cloak was caught and soon she would be too. She could smell a burning behind her.

Matild frowned and picked up another bottle.

"S –stop," exclaimed the terrified voice of the shopkeeper, without much authority. "Th – this is my merchandise."

"You forfeited those rights when we took over the street. Come out come out wherever you are. . . " he cooed, steps advancing on the old, creaky wooden floor.

Just as Matild was about to throw another bottle, undoubtedly right at Rose this time, the door opened – Rose yanked her cloak with a huge pull and scooted herself into the corner – as a hulking, wide figure came through. The figure was dressed in oodles and oodles of rags upon her squat form.

Rose didn't know whether she should be suspicious or grateful. It was Rose Daphne, the crazy lady from the apartment.

Matild straightened. "Oh, it's you."

Daphne cackled. "Oh it's you. Oh it's you. YOU'RE SO PRECIOUS."

"Shut up with your deranged banter woman. Do you have what I need?"

"Do you have what_ I_ need?"

"The boss won't like that you're delaying. Neither will _Pam._ . ."

The name Pam seemed to make Daphne straighten and smarten up, if that was possible. She reached under some of the rags and pulled out a brown wrapped package and threw it at him. "This is the last of the bunch. Nothing else has been grown; nothing else will be."

Matild peeked in the package and was apparently satisfied. "Here you go." He pulled some coins from his pocket and handed them to her.

"RID them of the SPELLS," she said, crossing her arms and refusing to take them.

"Like I would – "

"Do you take me for crazy?" She started growling at Matild. He shuddered and then did some wand work over the coins.

"Better dearie. I can smell the magic, you know. Just like I can smell the spattergroit you have hidden in here." Rose felt the hairs on her arms rise. There was no way for Daphne to know she was here. . . right? And why on Earth would Daphne be here and conversing with Matild! How did they know one another?

Daphne clucked twice and turned around, leaving the shop quickly. Her pinprick eyes didn't dart to the corner or anything, but a smug smile did appear on her face as she passed by. She stepped in the green liquid that was still resting on the surface of the wooden floor with a smack and it splashed over Rose.

Rose held still, hugging her knees and waiting for the chance to get out of the store. Luckily the liquid only seemed to burn wood, there were black marks all over the door and floor.

Matild didn't take much longer in the store. He picked up a few more ingredients, caused some more chaos by dumping ingredients on the floor, and then left, being very careful to not open the door more than necessary to slip out. Rose cursed her luck and had to wait for the next person to enter so she could sneak out.

"Very suspicious," Scorpius said, agreeing with her thoughts on the exchange. He didn't recognise the name Pam though. "And Daphne regularly converses with your cousins?"

"Well, I don't know how regular it is. But she's forbidden from having a wand and making potions. And they sort of keep watch on her."

Scorpius shook his head. "Just someone else we'll have to keep an eye on."

* * *

><p>After a week of following Matild, they had a list of ingredients he had stolen, an idea of which shopkeepers could be bullied, and had an idea of how large Snake Bitten really was on the streets of London.<p>

"What is he making with the ingredients?" asked Rose. She could only identify a few of them.

"Didn't you pay attention in Potions? Most of these were on our seventh year NEWTS final," Scorpius said lightly with a small grin.

She barely scraped an A in potions (she should have received a P) so of course she couldn't say anything. It wasn't her fault she hated working in the dungeons and couldn't sit still in classes. She glared at him for bringing it up.

"Some of them are stock ingredients for his potion stores, others are basic healing and charming potions for other members of Snake Bitten." Scorpius relented the information without much effort.

"That seems like a lot of effort for him to come out himself for those basic potions," Rose speculated as she fiddled with the covered bracelet on her wrist that was much too tight and itching like mad. Her hand seemed to be getting slightly purple and she was doing her best to ignore it. She would find Canwood. He was almost back in the country and as soon as he was Rose would be hot on his tail.

It was lunchtime and Rose and Scorpius were taking a break eating in an alley while Matild was at Woo's. He would be in there for another eleven minutes. The alley was rather grungy and dirty, but they brought their own food: Scorpius the sandwiches and Rose the water and apples. It was a ritual now and Rose had stopped complaining about him bringing food all the time. The sandwiches were very good and she knew it was with leftover food from Al's restaurant.

Then Rose saw Scorpius look away from her and run a hand through his hair.

_Got him. What's he lying about now? _Greg exclaimed. If he were a person Rose could envision him pointing a finger accusingly at Scorpius.

"What else," Rose said suddenly as she sat up straight and looked at Scorpius. "What else is he using the ingredients for? I know your keeping something from me."

"I'm not." His voice was hesitant.

"Malfoy. Say it. If it has to do with the gang I need to know."

He sighed loudly and stretched out his long legs across the alley, tapping his foot to some unheard beat. "I don't exactly know. Nobody knows. It's speculation."

"I don't care."

"I could be wrong. . . "

"That's ok."

It must have been the effect of Rose that was wearing him down, because she knew that a month ago Scorpius would never share anything with her, even when prompted. Now though, it was almost as if he wanted her to dig the information out of him, wanted to share information with her. It was more bearable to be around him now than it was at the beginning.

"The ingredients he buys are for veritaserum. We are pretty positive he's been out of stock for a few weeks and that's why he's been out all week bullying people for ingredients and money."

Rose frowned and ignored the 'pretty positive'. Obviously it was more than speculation then.

"Why does a gang need veritaserum?" she mused. "It seems like that's an extreme way to check if people are lying. Takes forever to brew."

So she did remember something from Potions! Scorpius averted his eyes briefly and Rose shot upright again and pointed a finger at him. That was his tell – to her at least. Scorpius was a good enough Auror that he could withhold information, but he was giving away the fact to her – so she _could_ find out.

She just didn't understand him.

"Say it," she demanded, "What do they use it for?"

"It's nothing."

"No. Dammit Scorpius. Why is veritaserum important? What do they use it for?"

Scorpius sucked in his breath and looked at Rose. "You're rather demanding, you know that?"

"And you're rather frustrating!"

He rolled his eyes. "I think it's what they use to make their drugs. It seems like they somehow warp veritaserum – I'm not sure with what – and it changes the qualities from truth-telling to a sort of twisted reality. It's highly addictive and it's in high demand at the moment. Nobody has ever seen it being made before. We just have samples of the drug and it has many similar properties with veritaserum."

Her mind started wandering to the past few weeks, recalling bizarre behavior. If it was like a 'twisted reality. . .' Rose rested the last bite of her sandwich on her leg. "Does being spiffed have anything to do with it?" she asked softly.

"Where did you hear that?"

"A few times. . . a few different places." She didn't elaborate.

"It's called being spiffed, when you're on the drugs. People act crazy. Now, we better get back out there." They quickly packed up their food and cleaned up their area so no evidence of them remained. Right before they were to head out, Rose stopped him with an arm on his hand.

"What are we looking for? I mean I understand Matild's never usually around, but the most he does is steal from apothecaries."

"I know. It's frustrating. We're waiting for anything really – a run-in, a conversation. Someone he knows is bound to come along sooner rather than later and then we'll get more information. If he accidentally leads us to his own potions lab, all the better."

Rose was a bit dubious about that. She kind of thought it was a waste of time to spend this much time on one person when he did the exact same thing every day.

But it turns out she spoke too soon.

They were trailing Matild in the street a few hours after lunch when Scorpius stopped and tapped his foot. Rose could just make out his wavering form standing on the edge and she walked to him, touching his arm to let her know she was there.

What happened next was unexpected: he grabbed her arm in an iron vice so quick she didn't have time to move and then proceeded to drag her down the street at a quick pace towards Matild.

"Malfoy! What. The. Hell." He gave a squeeze on her arm and didn't say anything. Rose was sure it was him dragging her – it _had_ to be him – but why was he dragging her? She struggled to keep her footing and not fall.

"Scorpius. Words, use them!"

"Wait. Quiet," the words came floating through the air towards her. Rose changed her mind's thoughts about how he maybe wasn't too bad and was getting more bearable. This was infuriating.

Then Rose saw what Scorpius apparently noticed but couldn't tell her – a woman directing her path to intercept with Matild's. The woman had brown curly hair and a buxom figure. And Scorpius was still struggling to catch up so they could be there when it happened. Now that she thought she figured out what was happening, she righted herself and walked with Scorpius instead of resisting.

They were very lucky no muggles noticed them and the disillusionment spells. Scorpius wasn't keeping to the shadows at all.

He slowed down when they were a few metres away from Matild.

"Go to the front and watch the exchange. I'll stay here. We meet after at that shoe store there." His breath tickled her ear, his touch now soft on her arm, but she did as he asked instead of voicing her frustrations. She was in front of Matild as soon as Scorpius let go.

The woman had her eyes trained on him, much like an amateur, and then Rose saw a slip of paper in her hand, just the barest piece of white against her black skin. She was drawing closer and closer by the second. Rose was keeping one eye behind her so she didn't run into anyone and the other on Matild so he didn't get too far away.

The woman tripped at the last moment, just inches from her target. She was not expecting it at all for her eyes were wide and she let go of the paper for the briefest of moments – before she crashed into Matild. The paper landed in front of Rose and she managed to read it before the woman rolled off Matild to snag it.

"Gertrum that was uncalled for!" Matild roared. A few muggles came to help them up and the woman – Gertrum – winced and looked frightened. Matild pushed all the people away and refused help.

"_Leave me alone_," he shouted. "I don't want any help." He got a few weird looks from the people before they retreated. Gertrum grabbed Matild's hand and swiftly transferred the paper over without anyone seeing.

She vanished soon after that and apparently Matild was in a bad mood for he went to the nearest alley to apparate away – a few hours before he usually did.

Rose watched Gertrum till she was gone from sight before she went to the front of the shoe store. As soon as she let Scorpius know she was there, her arm was once again grabbed. This time she was pulled to the alley, not as roughly as before, but enough to make her frustrations really grow and think of a small payback for him.

"Apparating," said Scorpius quickly and Rose couldn't even blink before they were gone.

They were outside his and Al's place.

Rose wrenched her hand out of his. What the hell? "That's not what I meant about telling me," she practically yelled. "You gave me one _fucking_ second of warning before apparating."

Rose took the invisibility cloak off and stuffed it in her bag as she followed him up the stairs. He unlocked the door and Rose stormed in, kicking off her shoes.

"Malfoy we need to talk."

He ignored her anger and went up the stairs.

"Yes of course. I'll continue to blindly follow you like I'm a sheep. Don't tell me what you're doing. _Baa baa_," Rose said scornfully to herself as Scorpius was long gone. She hissed loudly before making her way up. Scorpius was at the room at the end of the hall, which turned out to be his bedroom. Rose found him on the floor and rooting through the drawers for something.

Rose stormed into the room, not waiting for an invite. The walls were a light grey-blue colour with a small Gryffindor banner on one side and a few photographs tacked by the large window. The room was mostly clean, the bed was more or less made and only a few shirts were on the floor. She sat on the black down bedspread and stared at him with a glower on her face. Scorpius didn't seem to care.

"We do need to talk," Scorpius suddenly said. Rose raised her hands to the roof. He was unbelievable. The drawer Scorpius was looking in was full of mismatched socks of all colour. Scorpius was picking up all the white ones and sticking a hand inside to feel around. Rose didn't question it.

"Did you duplicate the paper?"

Despite her anger, her mouth dropped. How could he have seen that from his angle?

"I didn't duplicate it," she said plainly.

Scorpius's skin turned white instantly beneath his summer tan. "What do you mean?" He stopped digging and looked intently at her.

"Well you didn't say to duplicate the paper with a spell, how was I supposed to know?" She felt very vindictive at the moment. He just didn't get it.

He groaned loudly. And put his head in his hands, pulling at his hair. "_It was implied!_ What else would you do when an exchange happens and the paper falls to the ground after the target was incapacitated?"

_Read it, _Rose wanted to say, _obviously, _but she held that information back for the moment.

_Don't tell him, _said Greg. Well, she wouldn't right now.

"So, you sent a trip jinx?"

Scorpius nodded into his hands.

"Just for her to let go of the paper?"

Scorpius exhaled loudly and leaned back on the floor, keeping his legs bent because the dresser was in the way. He ignored the opened drawer and whatever he was looking for. "Yes. I did."

"See, now you string that all together and that's how you communicate when we're out in the field. For example: 'Rose, there's a woman around three o' clock who is headed straight for Matild. I think she carries a note and she'll try to hand it off to him. I will send a trip jinx at her when she's close and if she lets go of the paper, discretely duplicate it if you can get near it.'"

Scorpius dropped his hands from his face and looked at her in an expression that was half annoyance, half disbelief. Rose held her smug look in, trying to keep a straight face.

"It's that simple. Communication," she said.

He did not seem amused.

"I know it's longer to say, but then I won't misinterpret your meaning and mess up."

Scorpius didn't say anything.

Rose leaned back on his bed, kicking her feet up so she was lying down also. He really did have quite a comfy bed, she seemed to sink in. "What do you think the paper said anyway?"

Scorpius didn't answer for a few minutes, and when he did, he threw his hands up in the air and said bitterly, "probably something about what the new shipments were going to be and who was in charge."

Rose put her hands behind her head and oh-so innocently said, "nope. Not quite."

There was a pause.

"What?"

"I said not quite. You're wrong."

Another pause.

". . . How do you know I was wrong?"

Rose gave a little hum. "Well, I don't know. Maybe because when a piece of paper falls in front of me I read it."

There was a loud shuffling as Scorpius scrambled upwards. He leaned over Rose and put his hands on her shoulder, pushing her into the bed slightly. His eyes were wild and hair mussed up.

"You – you managed to read the piece of paper?"

"I'm not a complete imbecile."

He grinned and looked so relieved Rose almost felt bad about not telling him. Then she remembered she was still mad at him. He squeezed her shoulders gently and Rose had enough time to inhale before he was gone rooting through his sock drawer again.

He was triumphant a few moments later when he pulled out a tiny book from the toe of the sock and enlarged it with his wand. It was a plain black notebook. He left the room. She heard his footsteps thud down the stairs.

"I'm not following," Rose whispered. "Nope." She curled up on her side and half pulled the black blanket over her. It was soft. And warm.

Five minutes later a sheepish looking Scorpius came back to the room. "Hey – Rose. I see what you were getting at, before. I'm going to the kitchen table to write today's events. Can you come and contribute your information? I have samples of the gang's handwriting so we'll be able to narrow it down about who sent it if you can remember what it looks like."

Rose raised her eyebrow and grinned, flipping off the blankets with a pang. She could have used a nap. "Certainly Scorpius, I would love to. So kind of you for asking."

"Don't push it."

She got off his bed and followed him to the table; Scorpius was already warming up some food in the oven.

"We just ate lunch a few hours ago!" Rose exclaimed.

"That was more of a snack. I'm hungry and I know you are too. This is more of Al's food from the restaurant. It's good."

She rolled her eyes. She wasn't actually that hungry but she wouldn't turn down more food.

"I'm getting so much free food from that restaurant that I should start paying a monthly amount to him."

"Nah, you're okay. Al doesn't like waste and this would be thrown out if we didn't eat it.

Scorpius readied himself at the table and started writing. As soon as he started questioning her, he realised Rose wasn't going to give up the information that easily.

"You need to promise me something first."

He was exasperated. "What? What more do you want?"

"Communicate more. Don't just assume I know. It'll make it easier for both of us. Ok?"

_That's rather hypocritical of you. . . _Marta said. _Have you told him about Canwood yet?_

_Shush._

He hesitated.

"It's not like I'm asking for you to give your first child to me!"

"Ok."

"Is that an ok to the first child? Or communication."

He rolled his eyes and turned back to his paper.

"Well?" Rose persisted. She would not back down.

"Communication."

"And. . . "

He muttered incomprehensibles under his breath. "What else," he finally said.

"I'm going to that meeting tomorrow. You can join if you like."

"It's too dangerous for you," he instantly said back.

"No it's not. I can just _go_ _by_ _myself_ too. . . if that works."

Scorpius pressed rather hard on the paper with his pen and poked a hole through. "I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

"Nope," Rose said cheerfully.

"Ok. Let's hear it."

"It's at midnight."

Scorpius was writing and then stopped. "And?"

"I'll show you where it is tomorrow night."

The meeting was at the warehouses. Rose didn't know which one was referenced in the note, but she was sure Scorpius did. She couldn't risk him going without her – or worse, other Aurors, like her Dad and Uncle Harry, being there.

Scorpius frowned at her. "I agreed to your terms."

"And I told you half of it. The rest you'll find out tomorrow."

He was still frowning. He twirled the pen between his fingers.

"It's at the warehouses, isn't it."

Try as she might, Rose couldn't help blushing a little bit. "I will tell you tomorrow," she insisted. Scorpius raised his brows but didn't press the matter. After he finished writing and Rose had a chance to look at other notes that Scorpius had previously picked up to compare handwriting, they ate food and planned what the next day was going to look like.

Rose told Scorpius, "this all sounds good, but I won't be around tomorrow morning."

"Canwood's not here yet," Scorpius quickly said. "You can't go out by yourself. It's too dangerous."

"Errr. I'm not." Scorpius's line was too close to her thinking for the next night. "My mum wants to go for breakfast with me. And catch up."

"Ooh. Does she know you're doing. . . _this_. With _me_?"

"Yeah, not exactly."

Scorpius gritted his teeth. "Well good luck with that."

"I'm going to need it."

Al came home soon after they had everything planned and brought in a pile of groceries and a few bottles of alcohol. He was already tipsy and was struggling with unpacking. Rose and Scorpius helped put the groceries away as Al poured them glasses of rum.

"Hey Ro. Louis my best Frenchman told me to leave you alone, but see this?" he pointed at the walls and rubbed his hands over them. "This is sad. This needs some colour and life. My kitchen needs some help. And my living room. You owe me still. Remember?"

Rose winced. Al was referring to the stupid wand contract. Louis knew she wasn't and couldn't do any cleaning and didn't hold her to it. She knew Louis talked to Al, but apparently he was ignoring the suggestion.

"I can't Al. Not now."

"Hey. You promised. You wrote it down on the paper and we signed! Please Ro. Please."

He was looking at her with puppy dog eyes.

"Al. . . "

"Please Ro. I'm trying to run this business that I own and I have no time at all and Avani's sister in law just died, and James keeps bugging me to go play Quidditch and Lily keeps showing me all these wedding magazines and is asking for advice and I just want a nicer house with nicer colours."

He was very stubborn and stuck on it.

Even Scorpius intervened when Al kept going on and on. "Al she's too busy for that. She's out in London every day."

"Please Rose. If Scorp helps you it'll be done real quick –"

"I'm not volunteering myself!" he exclaimed.

" – and it doesn't have to be done right now or anything. But I really need the help for all this and I'll pay for the paint and then I'll never ask you for anything ever again and you don't have to clean for four months for me, like the deal said. Please Rose. Please. I'll even move the furniture off of the wall for you. Please Ro."

She was so done with the day. And Al was not making it better.

"OK. Fine! Malfoy and I will paint this place in a few weeks, _if_ we find time. Just stop talking!" If she had to paint, Scorpius had to as well. He would probably collect a lot of information in one day that it would take a week for her to weasel it out of him. And if they both painted it would be so much faster.

Al grinned and palmed his drink.

Rose glowered into her cup. Some cousins were insufferable.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I have crazy news - I've written four chapters for this story. They will be uploaded somewhat consistently over the rest of the summer and then a small hiatus will happen while I focus on other things. I've been staring at this computer screen for such a long time I think I'm going cross-eyed, but it was fruitful and this story is chugging along. So, enjoy. These next chapters are incredibly drama filled and are hopefully entertaining and enlightening (in some respects)! Cheerio folks!**


	23. Biscuits and a house key

October 17, 2026

* * *

><p>Scorpius woke up feeling very relaxed. He laid in bed for at least fifteen minutes, recalling his dream from the night before – it might have involved a certain redhead at one point or another, but it was such a good dream and he felt so at peace that he didn't care.<p>

Normally he was up an hour earlier getting ready for the day, but this morning he could just take his time; there was no rush.

After another fifteen minutes he was still in bed. He couldn't summon the will to leave; his thoughts were still on Rose though he couldn't say why. It was amazing how consuming she could be after spending a few weeks with her – he could not get her off his mind.

It was after he opened his bedroom window and a cool breeze bringing fresh air came in that Scorpius realised why his thoughts were so focused of her – her scent was everywhere. Scorpius rolled over and buried his face in his pillow, breathing deeply. It was intoxinating – she smelled faintly like oranges and lavender.

"No. What the hell." Scorpius sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, disgusted with himself. That was creepy.

He didn't care that she was in his bed yesterday. He didn't care that the bed now smelled amazing, he wasn't affected. Not at all.

He went downstairs for breakfast after a very cold shower.

Al was long gone and the house was quiet. Scorpius made himself a cup of tea and ate some biscuits for breakfast.

What did he usually do with his mornings? He hadn't taken a slow day in a few weeks – since about the time he'd started working with Rose. She never took days off and plainly told him that. He wasn't going to just leave her in the field alone so he could play catch up with work. The only problem was that he could not remember what he did with his time before.

If Rose hadn't gone for breakfast with her mum, they'd already be out in London – he'd bring black, hot, coffee, maybe some scones, and his charming grin. They'd be wandering around and talking, or trailing someone else.

Now though, he didn't really have anything to do. At least, that he _wanted_ to do.

Reluctantly after tea he pulled out the bundle of newspapers that were from all from around Europe. He might as well tackle some of it now; the pile would only grow as time went on. He set up a chair on the small balcony so he could enjoy the sun as he read about the gang.

Scorpius was just getting settled in – he had written the date on the page – when he had a horrible thought. What if Rose lied to him?

He threw his papers to the ground as he raced back inside through the glass doors and went to his room. He randomly grabbed some clothes that were lying on the floor before bolting back down the stairs with his wand and his locating map in hand. He quickly cast the spell and saw Rose's blue dot in downtown London. Without really thinking about it, he went outside the building and apparated to the nearest alley – safe apparition zones be damned, he never followed them anyway (but he didn't tell Rose that).

Scorpius didn't plan much farther than that. He checked the map again and it said that Rose was inside the building – some quaint café that was much classier than _Coffee for Kooks_. He spelled himself mostly invisible and did a walk by, peering into the café. And there sat Rose and her mother. He took a shaky breath. He could breathe easy again; he didn't realize he was so worried.

They both looked a little uncomfortable (Rose was incessantly tapping her foot, her mum was ripping a napkin up into tiny pieces), but Rose had a small smile on her face as she told her mum a story. Her hands were expressive and moving everywhere, miming waves or something.

Her hair was down, for the first time in a few weeks – maybe months – and her red curly locks nicely framed her face. But it also made her face look thinner and more tired. Maybe they were out too much and for much longer than they needed to be? And he could easily pack more food for them both. He didn't have proof, but he knew she was short on funds – she basically wore the same clothes every day. Even now, she had on a black long sleeve shirt that he'd seen dozens of times. Scorpius frowned. That was rather odd that she didn't wear something a bit nicer for seeing her mum.

He stayed watching for another twenty minutes, enraptured for some reason. He completely resisted the temptation to listen in on their conversation with his Extendable Ears. He chuckled quietly under his breath as he imaged Al's reaction to that. _"What is wrong with you Scorp? You're getting soft. The old you would be under the table even, listening in and denying it afterwards. You can never resist knowing what you're not supposed to know."_

Well, this was private. It was different. And it was _her,_ that was enough reasoning in itself for him now.

He and Rose were meeting at one. Then they would go over plans for the evening. He had a bad feeling in his gut about the night and what it would bring, but he couldn't say no to Rose. She would go by herself, undoubtedly. This meeting had to be at the warehouses. Of course it was.

She would have her wand on her so he could find her if she went by herself. But he didn't quite want Rose to know that he knew how to track her because then she wouldn't trust going out with her wand or she would ask for the spell to make her wand untraceable. Scorpius would give it to her if she asked, but he wouldn't be happy about it. At least this way, he could still find her if an emergency happened.

He returned to his apartment when he thought he was bordering on creepy again and read through thirty seven newspapers, writing the relevant information down in his notebook. It was a slow past couple of weeks for the gang. Something big was coming up, he was sure of it. Only the Polish newspapers contained obvious gang information – Canwood had been busy.

Scorpius received an owl after his newspapers and mid-morning tea. He was pacing back and forth. He wouldn't admit it to himself, but he was bored.

The owl was from his boss, Duncan, requesting him to come in and share what he had been up to for the past month.

Scorpius sighed heavily. He didn't like going into the main office, just more reminders that he wasn't an _actual_ Auror. Wouldn't be one for a few more years. He was a lowly information gatherer.

He hated his job. Not that he would tell anyone, least of all Rose. He had to keep a front up and make sure he pretended he knew what he was doing, even when he sometimes didn't know anything. He really wasn't trained for any of this. Wasn't even sure he wanted to be.

* * *

><p>"Scorpius m'boy," boomed Duncan. He was a thin, short man with a huge red beard and large bushy eyebrows. "We've missed you. You've been avoiding your paperwork again." Duncan pointed towards Scorpius's abandoned desk, teeming with paper. Scorpius winced. The last time he'd been in he'd vowed to never let it get that bad again. But he just couldn't stomach paperwork; couldn't handle sitting at his desk for hours at a time.<p>

"I have more important things than paperwork," Scorpius declared. "For the moment, at least. There's a few new leads on the gang."

"That's what I like to hear. Come into my office. We'll discuss and then see how much of your paperwork my student assistant will do for you." Duncan winked, and the effect wasn't as pleasant as it would have been with anybody else.

Scorpius spent the next hour discussing his information with Duncan. He mentioned Canwood, and his return and that Scorpius sighted him twice so far in Muggle London; Daphne and her potion trading habits with Matild; three new workers who were patrolling at the warehouses; Courtney the muggle and how she might need some magic protection because she was keeping money from the gang; and the fact that Gradford was remaining amazingly elusive. He didn't mention Rose nor the meeting occurring at midnight tonight.

In all reality, Scorpius should have told Duncan about the meeting so he could dispatch Aurors to be there. But Scorpius didn't have all the information and his informant wasn't comfortable with sharing information with Aurors (at least that was the story he was going with in his head). If they were caught, he would still get in trouble, but it would probably be lessened because of the small technicalities.

"You're doing a good job, Scorpius m'boy. In a few years I can see you moving up the ladder and joining the big leagues."

Two years ago, that sentence would have made Scorpius ecstatic. He still gave a faint smile anyway. Everything he did now, he wasn't supposed to do. He got into duels, engaged with the gang, and wandered into territory he wasn't authorized to go by himself.

He blamed his curious nature. He just couldn't sit in one spot and gather information; he needed to be involved and ferret out more, be involved in the action.

The past few weeks were slowly killing him, but he didn't want to put Rose into his usual danger. He didn't really want her around and doing this job, but she was very insistent on finding Canwood for whatever reason that he didn't know of yet. And he just couldn't let her go by herself, his stomach started flipping as he imagined what would happen if she was all alone and was caught by them.

He'd been keeping an eye on her and her interactions with people. He was sure he could find the person who was blackmailing her. As soon as he did, he could deal with that person and she would be free and safe with no need to ever find Canwood. But nobody ever approached her. Courtney was clean, Daphne was a loon. There was no evidence pointing anywhere.

_She's not just doing it for the heck of it, _Scorpius thought to himself when he was back in his apartment. _What is her aim?_

He still had a few hours to kill. The thought of going back out into London to listen in at one of the buildings was almost more than he could bare for the moment. He checked his map again, making sure Rose wasn't heading out early or sneaking off before their meeting. She was still at the café with her mum. That was good.

Scorpius then decided to apparate to his parent's house for a little visit.

He might as well catch up now while he had the time. He hadn't been over in two months, he was sure a letter was coming soon to invite him for supper or something. His pre-emptive thinking was spot on when his mum said, upon arrival. "Scorpius! What a lovely surprise. I was just thinking we haven't seen your face in a while."

They had tea and biscuits outside. Scorpius couldn't get enough biscuits in his daily regime to appease him, but his parents always had an endless supply and indulged him.

He filled in his parents on the job and what he was up to, making small hints here and there that he wasn't as happy with it as he usually was. He didn't know why he was making the hints, maybe because he just wanted their approval and acceptance. He felt like a little boy again for doing it, but at the same time they were his parents, and he cared what they thought. But either his parents didn't catch on or didn't choose to acknowledge it. When he was first accepted into this mini-Auror program, they were so proud. And so was he. He wanted to fight bad guys and make a better name for their family. Everything just turned out very different. It wasn't what he thought it would be.

By the time he left their house, he was running late. With regret he thought of Victoire and Teddy. He knew Teddy was at home with all his kids and Scorpius was due for a visit to them, but Rose was probably waiting for him. Unless she was running late at well, which would help him out.

Unfortunately she wasn't.

Rose was already at the apartment when he got there. She had apparently flooed over – very unwillingly. And she was cross (it seemed to be her constant mood when he was around). She was also half covered in soot still.

"Malfoy, when you say one o'clock. That means one o'clock. And unless you specify a meeting place, other than your _locked_ apartment, you'll make sure you're on time."

Her demeanor had changed; she didn't look anything like she did when she was out with her mother. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail again, dirt smudged on her face from the fireplace. She had changed her trousers into an older more rugged pair.

"You have dirt on your nose, by the way. Did you know?" Scorpius said. "Just there. . ." He indicated to her where it was and she scowled and rubbed at her face. It was still there. Scorpius held in a smirk and resisted the urge to help her wipe it off himself.

Obviously she decided to floo over since there was unrestricted access between the two flat's fireplaces. And she really, really hated to floo so that was saying something that she actually did it. Scorpius pulled his key out of his pocket and duplicated it.

"Here. Now you can just get in the front door."

Rose blinked up at him, apparently shocked. What? He could do nice things once in a while. He gestured to her to put her hand out and then placed the key in it.

She was still unresponsive. He rolled his eyes. Women.

"How was the visit with your mom? Let's pack our gear and make a plan for the evening when we may or may not be at the warehouses."

* * *

><p>It was two hours to midnight when Rose finally confirmed to him that the location was indeed the warehouses.<p>

Her brown eyes were narrowed at him as she told, and he couldn't help but have a smug grin.

"Well of course."

She ignored him and went back to concentrating on apparating, a particularly tiresome activity that Scorpius didn't have the patience for since he could do it a lot faster.

"You've just told me, I can do it now," he said. He received another glare.

"Don't talk. I can't always depend on you for this."

While that comment stung, he did understand what she was getting at.

His hand was getting rather sweaty, holding hers. It was a cold night tonight and a chilly October wind blew by. It only made his hand colder. Scorpius started counting in his head. He got to 254 when finally he felt her squeeze his hand briefly before a loud _crack_ sounded and they were gone.

She let go of his hand right before impact and couldn't stabilise herself when she landed.

"Graceful," commented Scorpius. "Am I missing an eyebrow?" He waggled his eyes at her. She picked herself off the ground, brushing dirt off, and ignored him.

Scorpius finished checking himself for missing body parts, but all appeared sound. He joined Rose at the mouth of the alley, staring out into the empty street lit by a crescent moon.

"Are you ready?" he asked quietly. "We just have to stick to the plan. We still have lots of time to get set up in our positions."

Her eyes were unreadable as they beheld his. He yearned to know what she was thinking behind them, wanted to hear her voice her thoughts, but she was silent.

"I'm ready."

Scorpius had a feeling she wasn't, but there was no backing out now. They cast spells on themselves to render them invisible and stalked out into the night. Scorpius kept an eye on his watch, waiting for the shift of guards. The warehouse they were going into was the furthest one from the Thames; it was the most inhabited one and one of the most treacherous, it hadn't been cleared out of all the junk. There were staircases leading to locked doors, rooms without floors, and a horrible, leaching feeling as if the whole world was turning bleak.

Scorpius was sure there was a Dementor stashed somewhere in the building, but he had yet to discover a trace of it.

There were footsteps ahead of them and Scorpius grabbed Rose and pulled her to the wall with him, not moving. He could hear her frustrated breath and was going to ignore it when he remembered the fact that she told him to communicate more.

"Unknown visitors coming up ahead," he whispered into her ear. It was still a bit too dark to see them. She gave a nod (actually he might have just imagined that), and they waited.

Three teenagers turned the corner and came into view, clearly spiffed.

"Oi! Oi! Don't steppy on the cracksies or the lava will eat our backsies," one of the women with very long black hair sang. She was jumping from brick to brick and had her dress hitched up to her waist as she tried to avoid the cracks.

"Cracksies, cracksies. Let's break my backsies. Blue. Pumpkin. TURTLE!" the boy fell suddenly in a faint like swoon. Scorpius could feel Rose freeze up beside him and he cautiously felt for her hand and held tight. It was so she didn't run, he told himself. But she held on tight as the boy started thrashing on the ground and screaming. There was a cut on the back of his head from the fall that made a dark mark on his shirt; he didn't notice however and continued with the seizures.

"LAVA! LAVA! IT BURNS!"

The three weren't even twenty feet from them. Rose held on tighter and turned her face from the scene, hiding behind his shoulder. It was horrible to watch normal people act completely psychotic, lost in their minds and not in the present.

Eventually the screams turned to high pitched laughter and the boy started singing a convoluted rhyme. "Jack and Jill climbed to the sky, to fetch the Sun God's kid. Jack killed him and stole his swim and Jill ate his body with pie."

The two women started laughing as well and when the boy eventually got up off the ground they continued on their way, sprouting nonsensicals in a mostly happy nature.

When it was safe to leave, Scorpius didn't let go of Rose's hand.

They made it around to the back of the warehouse. By the door was a man with a blue face. He was lying on the ground and looked to be knocked out, or dead. Scorpius didn't care to check and they stole past him into the opened door. When Rose hesistated, Scorpius gave her a tug. They couldn't focus on the body, they needed to get into position on the third floor. The meeting would take place on the second.

They were inside and could hear voices.

"Maybe the dogs will jus' eat 'im," said a voice. "I 'ate dealin' wit dead bodies." There was laughter and the clinking of glass.

"You can just transfigure it to a bone – throw it to the river."

"What's transfigure?" said a strong feminine voice. More laughter.

"Look at 'im. Look at Jack. He's so spiffed he thinks his hair is food!"

"We shoulda sent 'im off with the others. He's gonna crash soon, probably during the meetin'."

Scorpius and Rose passed through the main floor slowly and silently. Nobody noticed them, too involved in their drink, food, and hair. They didn't stay long to watch the revelry. There were chairs and broken tables illuminated by the two lanterns strung up. Garbage laying all over the floor – it was enough to watch their step in the poorly lit room to ensure no noises came from them. As soon as they reached the stairs, it was up, up, up through the darkness.

Scorpius could barely see anything. The few small windows were so grimy that the fickle moonlight couldn't trickle through. Luckily the wooden stairs weren't so old that they creaked with every step they took. They passed by the second floor, not stopping to look around. There were a few voices coming from the end of the hall that Scorpius ignored. They could listen in later once they were positioned.

As soon as they passed by the second floor, it was obvious the 'uptake' of the place had fallen. There was a dark spot on the stairs and Scorpius paused.

"Just one moment," he murmured to Rose. He could feel her at his back, restless and impatient. He looked closer at the stair and was shocked to find that it was rotted the whole way through. Obviously the place had worsened in the past six months. Duncan wasn't going to be impressed that Scorpius hadn't been coming in as regular as he usually was. The last time he had been at the warehouses, he had started a fire a few houses down to watch the guard and gang struggle around. Almost every one left their post and the place was abandoned.

"Rotted step," he told Rose.

He stepped over it and Rose did the same. By the time they made it to the third floor, they had to skip over four more steps.

The third floor was disastrous. The floor was rotted all over in dark spots, doors hung off the hinges – or were blasted off – and windows were broken.

But it was empty. And silent. Scorpius lit his wand as they walked forwards.

"This place is a mess," said Rose. "Like someone deliberately trashed it."

"Someone most certainly did." Scorpius pointed at some marks on the wall as they skirted by more rotted wood. "Dueling. These are the marks from _stupefy_ and _bombardia_. . . among various others."

They were still holding hands, Scorpius leading Rose. He didn't question it, tried not to draw attention to it so she would let go. It was the first time he had someone to be with while creeping around these dank buildings. It was _slightly_ comforting.

The floor gave a few loud creaks as they made their way to the back side. It wasn't enough noise out of the ordinary to warrant attention; every floor in the building was a creaking mess.

The door in the room they were going to had a gaping burn hole, large enough that he and Rose could both climb through.

"Ouch! Fuck!" she exclaimed, as she passed through behind him. She let go of his hand. Scorpius lit his wand and looked at her, just seeing the shimmery outline of her rubbing her head.

". . . duck down?" he said rather sheepishly. Oops.

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Sorry."

"It's fine."

She was still rubbing her head when Scorpius surveyed the room around him. The light bounced off the corners of the broken desk at the far end, a chair with the paint chipping, broken glass covering the floor, and ripped paper all over.

"Don't walk in the middle, just stay to the edges. I think the floor will collapse if we step anywhere near there."

Rose settled in against the wall. "So we set up and we wait then?"

Midnight was approaching in forty minutes. The meeting would be happening right below.

"We set up and we wait," Scorpius agreed. There was a loud raucous of laughter below and smashing of glass. He took a deep breath. "And we do not, under any circumstances, leave this room, attract attention, make noise, or any – "

"Yes, I know," Rose said. She started digging though her backpack. "We're just here to listen and collect information. Then track down these people later in a less hostile environment."

_Or not at all, _Scorpius wanted to say. _What's your secret Rose? _

But she didn't reply to his thought.

* * *

><p>The laughter died down the closer to midnight it got. At midnight, a sudden silence took over the room below Rose and Scorpius. Feet shuffled around, but there was no more laughter.<p>

The door creaked open and heavy footsteps entered. Scorpius clutched the Extendable Ear closer to him and got his paper and pen ready as the meeting started below.

"Gentlemen," said a voice with an accent. "We meet again after a long parting. Welcome to our new members all the way from Poland and from here in our hometown."

Scorpius could feel Rose stiffen when 'Poland' was mentioned. But she didn't move from her spot. It was Gradford speaking – the elusive leader of the gang.

He continued talking to everyone who was in the room, informing them about progress, what new stores were under their influence, and the demand their drugs were in. He gave payouts to certain members. Scorpius was frantically writing. This was pure gold for him.

More members of the gang spoke up now, contributing their reports from the past few weeks. Scorpius could recognise the voices of over half the members who spoke.

Cheering suddenly went up below. "Oi! It's Canwood. Look a' the big lump o' flesh. Finally decides to grace us with his presence!" said one of the guards.

Oh? Canwood wasn't there from the beginning, it made him wonder what he had been up to before the meeting. It was uncharacteristic for him to be late, and also for Gradford to let it go unpunished.

Rebecca Box spoke up next. "If he's late, there's obviously a grand reason for it. Let's hear some news."

Canwood started speaking, telling the story of his weeks in Poland, travelling around collecting people and supplies.

Scorpius was engrossed in his writing. He was trying to get everything down verbatim, but his hand honestly couldn't keep up; he was using shorthand he hadn't used since Hogwarts.

A flick that hit his cheek wrenched him out of his concentration and he rubbed his cheek. "Rose? Why did – ?" The flick came from the opposite side that Rose was seated on. There was no way Rose could have flicked his cheek.

"Rose!" he gasped out and dropped his paper and pen to the floor. There was no reply and Scorpius got to his knees and started feeling around for her. "Rose. _No_. Where are you? Rose!"

She wasn't there. Her spot was empty.

Scorpius swore heavily and relit his wand, standing on his feet and scanning the area around him – in search of any little movement, any distinguishable feature from the disillusionment spell that Rose was under that would give away her position. He picked up his papers and pen.

_Please still be in the room, please still be in the room, _he chanted to himself. He didn't have enough time to check his map or cast some sort of spell. His hands were sweating already. His heart beat picked up. A panic started to creep up into him, one he had never felt before. It was a nervous, sickly panic and he couldn't even think straight.

Rose. Rose. Where was she?

He quickly walked to the door, his eyes peeled for any movement. Anything. _Rose!_

When he turned back around there was movement by the window. He lunged across the middle of the floor, leaping to grab Rose and avoiding the dangerous middle by stretching his legs to the max before she did anything rash – leave, jump, whatever.

When he grabbed her shoulder, he realised that her shoulder was a lot lower than it normally was. Rose wasn't that short. It was a disillusionment spell and through the wavery form, there was short hair, and a face that wasn't Rose's. It was a girl. Someone he didn't know.

Before he could react, ask who it was or anything, he was punched in the stomach by the unknown girl. He stumbled backwards, horrified. It wasn't that the punch hurt, but what – ! or better, _who_!

He couldn't say anything, or tell his body to move because before he could, the floor gave out beneath him and he suddenly fell through the rotted middle into the meeting happening below.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: The 'you have dirt on your nose' line was taken from the movie (HP & the Philosophers Stone) - (and maybe it's in the book?) - I don't have it near me to check. It's a couple hours away!**


	24. Expelliarmus and an oil lamp

October 18, 2026

* * *

><p>Rose was slowly creeping down the stairs. Each step she took was deliberate and decisive; she was not going to step on the rotted steps. No she wasn't.<p>

Her heart was beating so fast so thought it was going to pop out. She just wanted to look at everyone in the meeting. She needed a visual of their faces and wanted to match a few voices. She wasn't good at listening for long hours. Scorpius was consumed by his writing; she knew she had a few minute window. He wouldn't even notice she was gone.

And Rose just wanted to see if Canwood was there, in the flesh. She'd been searching for this man for two months and she had not seen him yet. She just needed confirmation that he was alive – to see what he looked like and if _The Reds Inconnu _were correct in their depiction of him. . . and if she could somehow apprehend him right now, it was all the better.

_It's stupid. You're stupid. This is a stupid idea, _said Marta.

_Shhh. Don't distract me. This'll be quick. And easy. I'll be back upstairs with no one the wiser, _Rose replied.

_Good on you, _said Greg. _You need to see this Canwood man. Just get a glimpse of him, make sure the blood bracelet isn't a total farce._

This was going to be quick – just a quick look and then she'd be back sitting by Scorpius and listening again.

_Stop lying to yourself, _said Marta.

_Shut up._

She reached the bottom of the stairs and entered the second floor. The meeting was at the end of the hallway. The floors looked a lot better on this floor, no rotted wood or holes. She still was careful as she started walking down the hall, creeping slowly and silently.

There were two lights on in the hallway, illuminating the old wooden walls and the dirty red carpet under her feet. A man suddenly came barreling out of the room and zipped by Rose – who flattened herself against the wall – and headed down the stairs.

_Close one. Wand out just in case. Don't be afraid to throw elbows if need be, _advised Greg.

_I won't need to! I'm just looking. . . _

She got to the door and peered inside, heart thudding like mad. There were about fifteen people inside, all in various states of clothes and seeming to come from all walks of life. The blonde haired woman (Rebecca something?) who Rose had seen before was seated cross legged with a smug look on her face. She was wearing a business suit. A man with brown combed hair had his arm around her chair and a large bag sitting on his lap. He was dressed in some sort a traditional wear from India.

Rose's eyes roamed past them and found almost instantly Randy Canwood, sitting in front of the window. He was incredibly large, larger than she expected. And the tattoo on his neck! She'd read his biography so many times that the facts were just coming to her. He was 250 lbs, only 5'6", Rose was much taller than him! and the scars – he was covered in them – they littered his bare arms, hands, and face. He was a killer. Rose was going to have no chance against him.

_Don't think like that, _said Marta, _you can do this. If he's larger that means he'll be slower on his feet. _

_Won't catch his breath as easy, _added Greg.

He was seated in front of the window. If Rose cast some sort of spell like _bombardia maxima_, it might expel him back far enough that he'd break and topple through the window. Nobody would expect it because they didn't know there were eavesdroppers on the meeting and Canwood would be knocked out from the process. Rose would race down the stairs and she could levitate him outside the apparition restrictions and she'd be home free.

Before she could so much as lift her wand – or think of all the reasons not to follow through with this plan – the roof in the room gave out, wood splintering, and there was a large crash as something large landed on the table. There were some screams and people ducking for cover. Two members of the gang were knocked out cold on the floor. Then the table legs broke with another large crash. Almost instantly everyone who was conscious in the room had their wands out and pointed at the table.

Rose could make out a wavery form roll off the table, crouching and shooting three spells in succession. One of them was aimed at the smallest man in the room, the other at the blonde Rebecca woman, and the last one at Canwood. Only Canwood was quick enough to deflect the spell and shoot one back that was deflected just as quickly.

This was Scorpius, Rose was sure. Though what the hell he was doing when they were supposed to remain hidden was a little worrying. Why would he come through the ceiling? Did he know she was gone? Rose felt a chill run through her at that thought but barreled into the room all the same for backup.

"Expelliarmus! Petrificus Totalus!" shouted out Rose at the two nearest people to her. The man who lost his wand just picked up the wand of the person she froze and then Rose ducked as a blast of green light came towards her.

_What's the point of Expelliarmus? Doesn't mean he's out of the fight. Damn Uncle Harry. _

Another green spell came flying in her direction a second later and _DUCK! _Her instincts screamed and Rose ducked down again to avoid the killing curse.

"_Stupefy_!" she yelled, targeting someone who had their back turned. The woman dropped instantly. Rose felt a little guilty about it, but she was deflecting a jinx with a _protego _before she could give it much more thought.

She moved into the room trying to make her way closer to Scorpius. They slightly had an edge. They had disillusionment spells on them and caught them when their guard was down.

Three more _protego's _were shot from her wand. She couldn't even go on the offensive, there were spells coming from every angle.

The gang was shouting and arguing amongst themselves. That helped with the dueling for they didn't provide a unified front and everything was scattered.

Scorpius met up with her, but instead of them standing together to duel and take down Canwood, he shoved her back towards the door.

She tripped over her feet and stumbled into the door, but Scorpius was there, pushing her forcibly again outside as he shot another spell out of his wand into the room and blocked a few more incoming ones.

She went to protest but she was shoved again. He was relentless. But Canwood was in there! What was he – ? Scorpius slammed the door shot and performed some binding spell.

"What are you –" she started to say, but she could feel his wand and hand against her back, pushing her forwards.

"Get moving," he said roughly. He sounded like he was in pain, but that didn't lessen his movements as they raced down the hall and stairs as the door that Scorpius had bound crashed open with a small explosion and the gang members came pouring out behind them, still yelling amongst themselves.

The two thundered down the stairs and raced across the floor to get to the door. Scorpius stunned three more people who were on the main floor. He was shoving Rose forwards still, not letting up or stopping until they flew through the door and left the warehouses. But Scorpius didn't lead them to the alley where they were supposed to apparate to. A warning had already been passed around out and people were running towards the warehouse, wands at the ready. Rose and Scorpius turned the corner sharply, and sharply again.

They reached some sort of alcove in the wall and Scorpius performed some spell that caused two wooden doors to appear. He quickly opened them before gruffly saying, "get in. _Now_."

"What are – ?"

Once again, she couldn't finish her sentence before he was shoving her inside this dark hole, cellar type room. She couldn't even muster up some anger for the treatment. The adrenaline was finally running off and Rose was starting to feel a little scared. And nervous. She broke Scorpius's trust.

The full implication of that was beginning to dawn on her as she fell into the cellar and rolled to the side. Scorpius climbed in behind her and shut the doors, entombing them in darkness and silence.

Rose could feel the dirt beneath her hands and she pulled herself back against the wall. Scorpius's ragged breathing was the only sound around them.

"Scorpius, are you – "

"Don't talk to me."

She heard him moan faintly and shut her eyes. She was so stupid. How could she have left Scorpius without telling him? They weren't just at a coffee shop; they were in enemy territory.

_Because you are trying to catch Canwood. You are trying to save your own life, _said Greg.

_But at the expense of someone else's? _

Rose felt cold all of a sudden.

"Scorpius – "

"Don't," he said harshly. "Keep quiet and don't talk to me."

Rose curled up on herself, hugging her knees. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know how long they would be in this hiding place, or even how big it was. She didn't know what to say to Scorpius.

And that was probably the worst part of it.

She ran her hands through her hair over and over, pulling it at the roots, trying to think of a solution to this horrible mess that was knotting her stomach.

Scorpius was breathing ragged still. Slow breaths that weren't very steady.

Rose lit her wand, taking in their surroundings. The best word for it would be a pit, an underground pit that wasn't much higher than her head when she was seated.

"Turn the light off," he growled.

Rose didn't listen and instead turned the light to him. Their disillusionment spells had worn off, Rose realised, when she beheld his face.

"Scorpius – you're face!" He averted his eyes from her. His face was dead white, and one eye was swollen shut in colours of blue, purple, and green. There was a nasty cut underneath that was slowly bleeding.

She crawled towards him. "Bloody hell _I'm so sorry_. I didn't know – here let me – "

She reached out to touch his shoulder for comfort, but he shied away.

"Don't touch me," he said a little more forcefully. He seemed to be cradling his arm. . . Rose's wand light wandered down as she checked him for other injuries. His right arm was cradling his left and when he shifted away from her again, she saw the rip of his black shirt sleeve and the white of bone.

Rose inhaled sharply. His arm was broken, the bone clean pierced through the skin by his elbow. His shirt was wet with blood and it dripped steadily to the dirt floor.

"We need to get you to the hospital," she said starting to reach out with her hands but then stopping. There would be gang members everywhere above them.

Scorpius shook his head. "I can't go to Mungo's. Once dawn hits, this fiasco will have calmed down and we can slip by the guards when the shifts change. We'll go to your cousins."

He put his head against the back of the wall and shut his eyes, trying to keep his breaths coming at an even pace to control the pain.

Rose didn't move. He would surely die of blood loss if they didn't do anything and waited the few hours before they could leave. She just stared at him, consumed by guilt. This was her fault. They had to get out now.

"Scorpius, we need to leave and get you help."

"No. Too dangerous."

Rose hesitated. "Your. . . your arm though. You're bleeding heavily. You probably have a high risk of infection because we're in this dirt pit. You're bone is clean broken! We need to get you somewhere now."

Scorpius pulled himself from the wall and reached out with his good arm to grab her wrist, holding tight. His good eye was fierce and cloudy. It hurt Rose's heart to see him in such agony. "We're not leaving, Weasley. That place is going to be swarming with people, looking for us. It's already enough of a risk that we'll leave at first light. If I was fine, we'd be staying here for the whole day and some. But I'm not and a few extra hours aren't going to kill me."

_Well, it might._

Suddenly acting decisively, Rose pulled her backpack off of her and reached in for the small first aid kit. It was the smallest thing in the world, but it would help. Just a little.

"Scorpius, I'm going to clean up some of your cuts then. We'll wait until dawn to leave, but this is something that has to be done now."

"You've done enough already."

Rose frowned into her hands that were holding the little kit. She _had_ done enough. But she wasn't going to just let him die in front of her. It was probably the most miniscule amount, but she _could_ lessen some of his pain, hopefully.

She unzipped the first aid kit and pulled out some gauze. She held it up to his face and the cut that was bleeding below his eye. "This may hurt a little; I'm going to apply some pressure to stop the bleeding and then we'll bandage it up."

He didn't comment as she applied the gauze to his face. His good eye just stared at her through the whole process, the other so purple, black, and swollen that she couldn't even see his eyelashes. She focused on the gauze and avoided his eye.

This was real life. This whole looking for Canwood thing was real life. It wasn't some game where everyone would come out alive. This wasn't a group of people that would innocently laugh at them when they fell through ceilings. They could die.

_Now would be a good time to tell him about your contract, _Marta advised. _If he understands why, he'll forgive you. And help you. _

_I don't deserve any help, _said Rose bitterly.

She pulled the red gauze off and applied a new piece, keeping the compression constant. It was a shallow cut but was still bleeding heavily. In the muggle world, it would probably warrant a few stitches. If she had a needle and thread, she could attempt it, but she didn't.

The bleeding slowed down after a few more gauze pieces and Rose added some disinfectant to his face before bandaging it up.

Then she turned to his arm.

"I'm going to cut off your shirt sleeve," Rose said softly. There was a tiny pair of scissors in the little kit. By the time Rose got the sleeve off, it was more like hacking than cutting. She slowly pulled it away from his arm, exposing everything.

Rose had to look away and take a few breaths. It was not a good injury. Scorpius was breathing heavily. He finally shut his eye again.

"I don't know – I can't really do anything for your arm. But I'm going to wrap it up to try to control some of the bleeding and then I'll make a sling. This will hurt. If it somehow gets infected, it will make the injury much worse than it is now."

Scorpius gave an imperceptible nod. He could barely lift his broken arm away from his body for Rose to wrap the cloth around. She went over and over, trying to keep it tight so it could slow some of the bleeding. She couldn't look at his face. Tears were leaking from his eyes and guilt was gnawing away at her. She wrapped it all the way from his wrist to below his shoulder, creating a mini cast.

Then she created a sling from one of the extra shirts in her bag, tying the two sleeves together behind his neck.

Once she was finished, she re-packaged everything and retreated to the opposite end of the pit. She could never be a Healer. She felt rather faint. Her wand was still lit and she hesitated to put it out. If she did, they would be in darkness once again.

But she couldn't stand looking at him right now.

It went black and they were silent as they waited, Scorpius's ragged breaths the only thing that filled the pit.

* * *

><p>"Scorpius."<p>

"Scorpius."

There was a small groan in response.

"What are your parents' names?"

Rose was curled up on the ground, lying in the dirt and trying to preserve some heat. The longer they stayed there, the colder it was. She already draped her two jackets over Scorpius. He needed the extra warmth. She could suck it up; she wasn't fighting for her life.

"Scorpius, answer me."

"'Storia and Draco," he mumbled out after a long pause. "Tired. Stop questions."

"No. Scorpius!" She crawled up and lit her wand, waving it around his face. He barely had a reaction. "Scorpius you need to stay awake. It's almost time to leave. If you go to sleep, you might never wake up again." She gave his shoulder a shake. She'd been asking small questions the past few hours, but he was getting worse and worse. He flinched away from her and his eye fluttered open. His look was vacant. He was in so much discomfort and agony.

She checked his watch. They had about fifteen minutes left before it was the optimum time to sneak out. Rose had no idea what was happening out there. Didn't know how it would look once they left their little safe haven.

Scorpius had told her the spells to unlock the door, lock it behind them, and hide the place from view again a few hours ago so she didn't have to struggle to find them out now when he was semi-conscious.

"Scorpius, we're leaving in ten minutes. I need you to crawl onto your knees."

It took basically ten minutes for him to do that, but Rose acted quickly. She wrapped the two coats around his shoulders, securing them even though they were too small. She performed the disillusionment spell for the first time in her life on them both; she was concentrating so fiercely it worked on the first attempt. For added safety, she pulled the invisibility cloak and draped it over him. He was going to make it. They were going to make it.

She unlocked the doors above them, the early morning sunlight streaming in, and crawled out of the hole. Scorpius was a little tougher to get out, but he didn't cry out in pain.

They took the long way around, skirting by all the warehouses along the river and coming up to the alley. Scorpius was slow and leaning heavily on her shoulder. There were extra guards around and everyone looked incredibly wary. Wands were out and with the smallest noise a death spell was shot, they passed by six dead rats. The running river managed to mask most of their noise and they made it safely to the alley.

Rose apparated away directly into her apartment.

"LUCY! LUCY!" Rose screamed as soon as they were there. She set Scorpius down on the couch and ran to Lucy's room and turned on the light.

Lucy was curled up under the covers. "_Ereghh_, I just got to sleep."

Rose was shaking her shoulder and basically crying – she didn't know where her resolve went at that moment – "Scorpius is injured badly. He needs help. His bone is sticking out of his arm."

Lucy was still in a sleep fog, but she threw off her blankets and grabbed her wand and ran out in her pyjamas. As soon as she saw Scorpius she gasped and was working instantly on him, undoing the sling and taking off bandages to look at all his injuries. She cut the rest of his shirt off his body and Rose saw some heavy bruising around his ribs. Everything starting bleeding again.

"Rose. Get Dom. She came in about a few hours ago. You might need to dump water on her to wake her up, she was a bit out of it. Also start the kettle. I need hot water."

Rose ran to the kitchen and turned on the kettle before grabbing a glass of water and running to Dominique's room.

She opened the door and gagged. It smelled like rotted food. There were clothes all over and spilled liquids and Dominque was on the floor, passed out.

Rose couldn't even comprehend this. She threw the liquid onto Dom's face and started shaking her shoulder.

"Dom! Scorpius is injured. We need your help!"

Dominique made a weird noise and hit Rose's hand away. "DOM, _wake up_!"

"ROSE, HURRY UP!" yelled Lucy from the living room. Dominique was unresponsive, Rose ran to the door. "She's not waking up!"

"_What the hell_!" Lucy exclaimed.

Rose turned back around to _make_ Dom get up when something came soaring towards her head. Rose just caught a glint of glass in the darkness and blinked as an oil lamp exploded on her head.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE. STOP FUCKING YELLING. FUCK FUCK FUCK," screamed a deranged Dominique, standing up with her fists clenched at the sides. Her eyes were black and hair was greasy and sticking up everywhere.

Blinding pain overcame Rose and she stumbled out of the room, her hands covered in blood as she held her face, trying to stem the oncoming pain. She could smell oil everywhere, her head and shirt were soaked. The door slammed so hard behind her it shook the walls.

She was in shock now. Dominique just threw a lamp at her? Did she expect Rose to block it in the darkness?

"Lucy," she cried out and went to the living room, holding her face. "She threw a lamp at me. Something is wrong with her."

Lucy gave a small scream when she saw Rose and all the blood coating her, Rose couldn't even see out of one eye at the moment. There were cuts all over her hands and on her head. Lucy stopped un-wrapping the mini-cast from Scorpius's arms and ran her hands through her hair in a moment of panic

"What is going on!" she said in a whisper that was so deadly.

Rose wiped blood out of her eyes, again and again. It wouldn't stop coming. She ignored the roaring in her head as she said, "I'm fine for right now. What do you need? Focus on Scorpius."

Lucy raised her hands in the air. "Bloody _fucking_ hell. Okay. Scorpius needs a blood replenishing potion. Right now. We'll get other potions later. Cupboard at the end of the hall, top shelf at the back. It's labelled. Just. Stay calm. It'll be ok." She took some deep breaths and turned her attention back to Scorpius.

Rose found the potion, and with a blood slicked hand she grabbed it and took it back to Lucy.

They were both shaking him and trying to get him to wake up to consume the potion. He opened a blurry eye (the other one was patched now from Lucy), and gaped at Rose. He tried to sit up and reach out to her.

"What – what – happ – "

"Shut up and drink," said Lucy as pushed him back down and brought the potion to his lips. He drank most of it before he was passed out again. Rose brought Lucy the hot water and then she was washing his skin and chanting spells under her breath as his bone was mended and the skin being knit back over. She didn't stop until it was knit back up.

"Where's Molly?" asked Rose, when Lucy was inspecting the arm. The skin around it was blue tinged, but it seemed the danger had passed.

"Lorcan's. Scorpius will be okay. Let's lay him down and then we'll take a look at your head."

She was still bleeding, but there was honestly blood everywhere so she wasn't sure how much had come from her. Most of the cuts seemed rather shallow and she wasn't in danger of bleeding out. They laid Scorpius down on the couch and covered him up with a large blanket. Rose tucked it in around his neck, leaving some red handprints.

Lucy started removing the glass from Rose's head and hands, cleaning up the cuts with a few small healing spells and putting an ointment on others. "I'm sorry, I can't spell them all closed – I'm exhausted. But I'll do the worst now, clean up the rest, and finish tomorrow."

"I'm fine, save your energy!"

The largest cut, where the lamp had struck her head, caused massive swelling.

"She actually threw a lamp at you?" Lucy asked a few minutes later, still in a state of disbelief as she fussed over Rose.

"Yes. . . something is wrong with her. Her room was a mess and there was a rotten smell coming from there. And her eyes. . . it's not right."

"No. . . it's not. When she came in a few hours ago, she was acting weird. I don't even know how to describe it. She was saying things like 'the sky is falling, swim for your lives!' and other weird things. She didn't even recognise me. . . called me 'Captain Kinkerbotgen' or something. . . It was like. . . I honestly thought she was on drugs or something. She was in this weird fantasy world. But her eyes, yes. Something isn't right."

Rose felt a chill run through her. If she was on drugs. . .

_She was spiffed, _said Greg. _Has to be._

But where would she have gotten them? It was Dominique! She would never take drugs! Rose could barely believe it as soon as it was voiced in her head. Dom who was the largest neat freak on Earth and who barely trusted potions and food she didn't make herself; Dom the potioneer! It didn't make any sense.

"What should we do?"

Lucy looked at her with gleaming eyes. There was no trace of sleep in them now. "We're going to question her right now. Before she runs off again – she hasn't been sleeping here in a while. And normally I wouldn't care. But now. . . "

Rose had a huge bandage on her head from the oil lamp Dominique had thrown. It seemed almost dangerous going back in.

"We just have to be careful," said Lucy. "Arm yourself. And duck this time. I don't think her mood will have improved in the past half hour."

Lucy stormed down the hall and flung Dom's door open wide. She flicked on the lights and they regarded Dom on the bed, all twisted in the sheets. Her hands were at her eyes, holding them open and she was breathing heavily. "Dom, what the hell is wrong with you?" Lucy asked, distaste on her face as she surveyed the room. Dom didn't reply. Lucy picked up the sheet and started pulling it.

Dominique sounded like some sort of wild animal with the croon she made as she was flipped over and over as Lucy pulled the sheet from her. She had gained weight in the last few weeks, she was much larger than she usually was. Her shirt was ratty and stained with old food.

"What is happening to you? Why are you and your room a disaster?" she demanded, unrelenting.

"Bloody fuck. Get out of here," growled Dom. She had such an angry look on her face. Rose started picking some of the glass shards off the floor where the oil lamp had broken.

"No I will not."

Dominique's breathing got deeper and reached behind her bed, grabbed some book with a ripped cover, and chucked it at Lucy.

"THIS IS MY FUCKING ROOM. GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!"

Lucy barely batted an eyelash.

"Newsflash. I don't fucking care that this is _your_ room." Lucy picked Dominique up by the arm and hauled her out. Dom was screaming and kicking and throwing a temper tantrum and ended up cutting her foot on some glass despite Rose's best efforts.

"Lucy her foot," Rose called out as she looked around the room. She went to the closest and peered in. It was worse in worse shape than the room, if that was possible. She gave a quick glance over for drugs of some sort, but didn't find anything

She could hear Dominique snarling and swearing in the living room. If Scorpius hadn't lost so much blood, he definitely would have woken up with the racket.

"You know what Lucy. NO ONE LIKES YOU. Everyone just takes pity on the younger, dumber twin," Dominique said loudly.

Rose poked her head out to see Lucy dump water on Dominique, her face white.

"Sober up from whatever you're on," she said quietly. Dom started hitting Lucy's arm.

"Nobody likes you. Nobody likes you. I FUCKING HATE YOU and nobody likes you."

Lucy filled up the cup with more water and dumped another one on Dom. She was spluttering, her hair plastered to her face. Her eyes were still black, no lightness seemed to reach them. Rose hesitantly joined the two out there.

"Dom, where did you get the drugs," Rose asked. "Where are they now?"

"SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH, slut. Nobody wants to hear a sob story about your messed up life. Nobody gives a flying fuck about it."

Rose froze. Her eyes were trained on Dominique.

"It's whatever she's on that's speaking," Lucy said. "This isn't _her_." Dominique started dancing her head back and forth between her shoulders, looking like a rag doll. "OF COURSE this is fucking me. You both are so PATHETIC. I don't need your help."

Dominique stopped flinging her head around and looked at Lucy. She crept closer and closer – hair still on her face, clothes in ruins – and said quietly, "'_nobody_ could ever love you or be with you because you're so cold. So fucking cold, you're not even human'."

Lucy's eyes went dark instantly. "Get out of this flat. You're not welcome anymore." She roughly shoved Dominique away from her, towards the door, before she took off into her own bedroom and slammed the door shut, not looking at Rose.

Dominique went to the chair and picked the cushion off of it, throwing it at Rose. Wherever she stepped, there was a crescent shaped blood spot on the floor, it didn't even look out of place with how the room currently looked. Then Dominique walked to the door, punching the wall as she went and knocking everything to the ground that was in her path. Rose just stayed in the middle of the room watching the catastrophe happen.

Scorpius was knocked out on the couch. Blood was everywhere. Dom was psycho and on drugs. Lucy was locked in her room.

This was unbelievable. Rose sat down right where she was standing (her knees seemed to give out from under her) and leaned back against the floor.

Everything was such a mess.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Shout out to _WhatsTheTimeMrWolf_ for reviewing the past few chapters, I appreciate it immensely :) Next chapter: A search mission and blood poisoning **


	25. A search mission and blood poisoning

October 18, 2026

* * *

><p>When Rose woke up, she was still lying on the floor. She didn't want to open her eyes and look around. She didn't want to see the destruction that happened only a few hours previously. The morning sunlight was long gone.<p>

She heard movement and light footsteps walking in the kitchen. Her head was feeling a lot better and most of the cuts on her hands had healed.

She opened her eyes to lightness and realised it was past noon. She pushed herself up to look around, and was actually surprised to see that the destruction wasn't as bad as she thought. In fact, most of it (blood and all) had been cleaned up.

"Molly?" called out Rose. She could only imagine what Molly thought when she got home.

But it was Lucy who poked her head around the corner. "Still confusing me for Molly," she tisked and gave a weak smile. "Molly is still at Lorcan's luckily."

"Good."

"Yeah, that's my thoughts too. How's your head feeling?"

Rose touched the large bandage. "It's fine."

"Good. We're going out to search for Dom in a few minutes."

"We?"

"Just you and I, we need to get her to the hospital. Or rehab. I don't even know. I searched her room all over and the most I found was this - I put it in the bag." Lucy held up the bag for Rose to see. There were a few clear crystals in it.

Rose got up off the floor and walked over to look more closely at the crystals.

"I was thinking it was some sort of a Cheering potion gone wrong and she crystalised it. But I haven't performed any sort of analysis on it yet. She was very happy and bizarre when she came in. And then she turned into a psycho she-monster later."

"I think it's street drugs," said Rose frankly. Lucy spluttered and started to shake her head, her ponytail flipping from side to side.

"Dom, do street drugs? That's not even plausible."

Rose shrugged. "I don't have a reason why she would do it."

"This is crazy. I just. . . what? I don't understand any of it." Lucy was rubbing at her forehead. "You should quickly go wash all the oil off of you before I change your bandages and I'll finish a bit more of the cleaning. Then we'll head up to her lab. If she's not there I have a few other ideas."

"Is Scorpius. . . okay on the couch?"

"Oh yeah, he'll be fine. He woke up about an hour ago and I gave him five potions. He'll be sleeping for a few more hours. He knows to take the potions if I'm not here when he wakes up." Lucy pointed at the table where some bottles were sitting, clearly labelled in Dom's handwriting.

After a quick shower, Lucy and Rose both pulled on their jackets and put on their boots, dressing up warm for their rescue mission.

"Honestly if we see her and she's still like _that_ – we're stunning her. Knock her out. Don't think twice," said Lucy. She pulled open the door and brought the stairs down so they could head to the roof.

The little lab looked lonely sitting on the roof. Rose didn't see anything wrong with it, but Lucy quickened her pace.

The door was open, which was perhaps the first indicator. But when they walked in, Rose knew that it was serious.

Plants were uprooted, cauldrons rusted on the floor, potions and ingredients all over the place, and two spoons were broken in half. There were footprints in some of the dried up liquid, footprints from a boot.

Lucy continued on to the greenhouse, just adjacent to the lab – the same. Everything was chaos.

"What the hell happened here," she murmured. "This is. . . this is. . . "

"Dom's not here." Rose quickly scanned the few aisles of plants. The ones that weren't dead were uprooted.

"How could she have wrecked her own lab? Destroyed it?"

"I don't know."

Lucy took a deep breath. "Well just one more question to ask her when we find her. We're going to apparate to a house now. The guy who lives there is named Piper. He deals with illegal potions and ingredients. Dom's trysted with him a few times and bought the occasional ingredient from him that wasn't carried in the apothecaries. He's got to have some idea about her. I know she would have went to him at one point these last few weeks."

With one last mournful look around, Lucy grabbed Rose's arm and they apparated off the roof directly into the front yard of a house. The grass was long and unkept, but the house was rather ordinary in appearance. There was a woman passed out on the grass near them. Lucy quickly checked that she was alive before facing the house again.

"Piper," Lucy growled. She stormed up the steps and kicked the door open. Rose trailed behind her, impressed with the kick. There was a dank smell coming in from the house, and though she couldn't describe it, an enticing one underlying it. She paused in the entrance to look around. There were lots of shoes by the door on a plastic mat. The walls were white with some purple and blue streaks down the side, as if someone ran a marker over them.

There was a screaming coming from inside the room Lucy just went and Rose raced in for backup. But it wasn't Lucy screaming. Three people ran by her, the whites of their eyes showing. There was only one man left in the room. He was incredibly short and thin like a whip, with vibrant blue hair. His hands were up in surrender as Lucy had her wand out.

"Where is she?" Lucy said. Her voice was harsh.

"I don't know! I don't know!" he had a very faint Chinese accent and was wearing skinny jeans and a very baggy black shirt that almost was at his knees. He started screaming again.

Lucy's wand was in his neck; she was unrelenting. Rose started searching the room around her, looking for anything.

"I'm not going to ask you again Piper. This can turn ugly really quick." Lucy's voice even gave Rose the shivers. She found two small glass bottles with a clear liquid in them and held them up to the light.

"I think I found something Lucy," she said.

"Bring it." She didn't take her eyes from Piper. Piper's screaming stopped.

"Don't touch that!" Piper said frantically. His adam's apple was bobbing. "Do you have any idea how much that's worth?"

"That's _not_ your concern right now. Where is Dom? Have you been giving her drugs?"

Piper dashed out from under her wand and attempted to make a run for it. Rose instantly stuck out her foot and he went sprawling onto the floor. Lucy froze his body a second later.

"Piper. You're just making yourself guiltier by the minute. Did you give her the drugs?" Lucy applied her foot to his neck this time, while he was on the floor. Her face was harsh, the usual laugh lines around her eyes and mouth were gone.

"No! No! It wasn't me. She found them on the street!"

Rose's fingers curled.

"You're lying," she said.

"No! She found them! She brought them here. She had them in her lab! She was trying to make it herself when she ran out!"

Lucy pressed harder against his neck. "And?"

"She needed an ingredient from China. Something that is forbidden in the U.K and only I have access to. She was only testing the potion out. Trying to find its properties." His face was sweating and his eyes were wild. His breathing was ragged because half of his windpipe was cut off with Lucy's boot. However, he was still frozen.

"Where is she now?"

"I don't know! I haven't seen her in a few days! She ran out of serum. The whole city did. But we just got more yesterday because our contact returned from Poland and he brought supplies."

Poland? Rose asked, "are you part of Snake-Bitten?"

Piper's voice answered in a whisper. "No. But I work for them on occasion. I have no choice, you understand."

Lucy looked at Rose, confused. Rose just shook her head.

"I'm going to check the rest of the house. Keep questioning him," Rose said.

The kitchen was the first place she went. Inside was four cauldrons on the counter, boiling on some green flames. Inside them all was a clear liquid. The rest of the kitchen was in decent shape. The floor was a little bit dirty, but there were no dirty dishes or ingredients laying around – like Dom's lab had been. The potions seemed to call her to them and she went to them and looked inside. She was stuck there for a bit, not wanting to move as she just stared at the bubbles that broke the surface.

_Lucy's waiting, you need to be quick, _Marta said. Rose jolted herself out of the trance.

She opened a cupboard and pulled out a few glass bottles, dipping one into each cauldron collect a sample. She put the stopper on and put it in her bag. She was hoping that they would prove helpful later.

_Try some, _Greg whispered. _Just a little - nobody needs to know. _

Even though it was ridiculous that some part of Rose thought that, the smell was almost overwhelming. It smelled. . . she could _barely_ resist.

_You saw Dom! If you consume some, it'll be you that's deranged and acting like a lunatic._

_Sabotage the potions then, _Greg suggested. _Nobody should be able to try some either._

Marta rebuked: _don't touch them! You don't know their properties, something bad could happen! _

_Fucking voices, _Rose thought, _this is driving me nuts. I will be a lunatic soon, without drugs._

Rose didn't really care if she burnt down the kitchen with her tampering. If these were the street drugs, some twisted form of veritaserum. . . Well she'd do anything to destroy them. Stuff like this could destroy lives. She found some random ingredients under the sink and dumped them into the cauldrons. She grabbed one of the spoons to mix it together as a dark smoke started bubbling off and filling the kitchen. The spoon got very hot and then melted in her hand.

"Oh no," Rose muttered to herself. She flung a few more ingredients inside – some sort of red root and dragonfly wings – before she pulled milk from the fridge and added it to the mixtures. Surprisingly, the milk seemed to make the potion settle down, though it worsened the smell around them. It was no longer clear, it was deep green now, and apparently rock solid. She put out the fires and left the potions sitting there.

_Good job. Now nobody can use them, _Greg said.

_Well, hopefully. I might have also made something worse._

Rose finished searching the kitchen, yielding nothing, before she went to search the bedrooms. When she found a shirt of Dom's, her throat closed up on her.

"_Bloody hell_. . . Dom."

The rooms were nondescript: white on the walls with nothing hanging from them, empty drawers in the dressers, beds with no sheets or blankets.

She went back to the living room. Lucy had taken her foot off of Piper's neck (there was a red spot there now instead) and was leaning against the wall, staring at him.

"Do you know the name Matild?" she asked.

Rose looked at Piper, surprised. "He's a potioneer. That's about all I know. Scorpius knows more."

"Apparently this Matild guy is coming in the next day to pick up the finished potions that are in your pocket. Piper is a little worried for his life if he doesn't have them when he gets here."

What was Lucy getting at? "That's unfortunate. . . I also destroyed the brewing potions I found in the kitchen."

Piper gave a whimper.

"Even better. Piper doesn't know anything else about where Dom is. We'll need to look elsewhere."

Rose held up the shirt she found. "She was here at some point or another."

Lucy took a deep breath, her fists were clenched tight and face was red. "Piper, you're just not helping yourself out here. I'm so angry I probably could kill you, Healer profession be damned."

That didn't seem to phase him. "I'll be dead tomorrow anyway thanks to you two."

"Not my problem. I suggest you run. Fast." She turned to Rose and indicated they leave.

"Are we just going to leave him?" asked Rose when they were back outside. "He _will _be dead if the gang finds him."

Lucy shook her head. "I don't know. I honestly don't know what to do. He deserves whatever he gets, especially if we can't find Dom. I was banking on him for that information. . . "

"We could turn him in to the Aurors?"

Lucy gritted her teeth. "If he's still here when we find Dom we'll do that. If he wants to save his life, he'll do that himself. Right now he's not a priority. We need to find Dom."

Rose deposited the shirt in her bag with the rest of the evidence and they took off down the street. Every alley they passed, Rose peered in, hoping to catch a glimpse of her cousin. Smeaton's words still rang in her head _'saw that slut of a cousin of yours, sleeping on the street in plain view.' _What if she _was_ on the street? With everything that had just gone on, it was highly plausible now.

They reached an old apartment building four blocks away. Lucy rang the buzzer for one of the apartments. Out of the corner of her eye, Rose saw movement. She instinctively turned and held up her wand. What she saw though, made her freeze. Seated crossed leg on the ground was one of the triplets. She was blocked from view from all the angles except where they were now. Her short black hair looked shiny and her black eyes were regarding them both calmly.

Rose hit Lucy's side and pointed. Her wand was still up.

Lucy turned and the fierce look on her face instantly melted and she rushed forwards to the girl with short black hair.

"Where is she?" she whispered. Lucy was on her knees and holding the girls hand. The girl was still staring at her with an expressionless face. Her makeup was heavy and probably masked what little emotion would have shown through. Rose didn't know if this was the girl who stole her money the other day, or what the difference was between them all. She didn't trust them one bit though.

"You have to hurry; she's at 114 Knockturn Alley."

Lucy instantly turned around and grabbed Rose. "We're off. Hold steady."

They left the apartment building and were instantly at Knockturn Alley. If Rose wasn't so worried, she would have been frustrated with Lucy's no warning apparition. But she didn't even bring it to light under the circumstances. They ran down Knockturn Alley, people were bustling every which way and it was a fight to get through them.

"Dom! DOM!" called out Lucy. She said to Rose frantically, "what street are we at? Are we going the right way? She said hurry – I don't know if Dom'll be conscious."

Rose eyed the street signs and then they took off running to the left.

"We just trust what that girl says?"

"Yes." Lucy said simply, as if Rose should never have doubted it.

Buildings, people, faces. They just arrived at 114 and Dom was nowhere in sight.

"Blonde hair, blonde hair. _Where is she?_"

_Like a slut, sleeping on the ground. _

Rose grabbed Lucy's shoulder and pointed. Near the wall, there was a heap of rags laying there. It looked like a homeless person, but Rose didn't think it would be once the rags were off.

They ran closer, almost running over a group of goblins that were huddled in a group. Rose ripped the ragged blankets off.

It was Dom. Her skin was tinged blue, there was white ringed around her mouth, and she was utterly limp. She had cut marks on the forearm of her left arm and a bruise on her cheekbone. When they peeled off the rest of the rags, they saw her foot. It was yellow and green, severely infected.

Lucy immediately felt for a heartbeat. "It's barely there. We need to get her to Mungo's _now_."

Rose heaved Dom up, one hand under her head and the other around her legs. Her head lolled backwards. With the weight she gained she wasn't easy to carry.

Lucy was diagnosing her as they walked to a less crowded area.

"She overdosed – her stomach is full of chemicals – severely dehydrated – bacterial infection in her cuts – some blood poisoning - OK here. I'm taking her right to my floor – give me a sec, apparating two people is harder –"

Three and a half seconds later they were in an emergency apparition area and medi-witches and wizards were swarming and Dom was taken from Rose's hands and rushed to a bed and Lucy was talking rapid fire to one of the men in the green robes – and Dom was getting hooked up to an IV, her clothes being removed –

"Rose I'm sorry but you'll have to stay in the waiting room for right now. I'll come and get you as soon as she's stable," Lucy said quickly. "Tell Molly, and the family."

Then Lucy was gone and Rose was alone in the empty room. One of the receptionists walked in and pulled her out of the room, leading her to the waiting room.

"Can I get you anything – tea? Water?" Rose blinked up at the man and shook her head.

"OK. Just wait here, everything will be alright."

Rose sat with a thump on the chair. There was nothing to do but wait.

It didn't take long before what Lucy said registered and Rose asked the receptionist, an older gentleman named Mulroney, for some pen and paper. He looked at her oddly before Rose amended her statement and asked for quills and parchment.

He nodded in understanding and brought her out an ink pot, a small black quill, and some parchment paper.

_The wizarding world, so archaic sometimes, _Rose thought to herself as she splotched her way through four letters; one for Molly, Dom's parents Bill and Fleur, and her siblings, Louis and Victoire. They could decide who else needed to be at the hospital, but Rose thought the immediate family was the most important. She hesitated before she wrote up one more letter to Scorpius:

_Scorpius,_

_If you wake up and nobody is home, it's because we're all at St. Mungo's. We found Dom passed out in the street, almost dead. She's been taking that street drug from Snake-Bitten, the twisted veritaserum. We found some crystalised in her room. Lucy and I infiltrated a potion house and collected some liquid samples of it and destroyed the rest. _

_I don't know when we'll be back. Make sure you drink all five potions and get lots of rest. Sorry again. I hope you're feeling better. _

_-Rose_

Rose didn't know why she added that last part. She still felt guilty about Scorpius's injuries, but it was being overshadowed by everything else at the moment. There was so much she wanted to write and say yet it would all have to wait. She headed up to the top floor of Mungo's where some owls were available for delivery and sent off all the letters.

The receptionist brought her coffee when she came back down. And then she was waiting in silence again.

Molly was the first to show up, demanding answers.

"Rose what's wrong with your face? What is going on?" she said. She was frantic; it was all surreal. Rose gave her the bare basics in a monotone voice before Molly went running through the doors that Rose wasn't allowed through.

A few minutes later a Healer came out wearing lime green robes. Rose tensed. What was he going to say? But it was nothing about Dom.

"Hi, are you Rose Weasley? I'm a first year student, my name is Healer Terry. Healer Weasley sent me out here to clean up your injuries."

"I'm fine. Just focus on Dom." The fact was that Rose couldn't even feel any injuries. She'd been letting things heal the muggle way for so long that these small cuts were nothing.

The Healer gave her a smile. "She's getting the best care and attention at the moment. I wasn't working on her however, I'm a student still so I'm not involved in her treatment. . . The twins were insistent."

He had such lovely green eyes. Rose yielded without too much thought. It was something to pass the time. Healer Terry looked at her head, flipping her hair all around to find all the cuts and then was working some minor spells on them. Her hands also took no time at all. Right before he left though, he asked her, "do you have poor circulation? Or low blood pressure?"

"Uh, no? Not that I know of?"

He picked up her hand, the one with the bracelet and showed her it. "Your hand is looking purple and swollen. Usually that's a sign of poor circulation and it's easily – "

Rose ripped her hand out of his and hid it behind her back. "I don't have poor circulation. It's quite alright. It was just a minor accident where I got into some purple dye, it'll wash out in a few days I'm sure."

The Healer didn't quite buy it. "It's awfully swollen for just dye. If you'd like, I can - "

Rose clenched her teeth and said, "thanks for your concern, but it's nothing you need to worry about."

He seemed to get the hint then and bid her goodday. He stayed in the room however, talking with the receptionist.

The next twenty minutes found the whole Weasley-Delacour family in the waiting room; Victoire arrived first. She came from work as soon as she received the memo, her whole family was at home still and she was in tears as Rose told her what happened to her sister.

Rose's Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur arrived just as Rose finished telling Victoire, and then Rose was repeating everything again as Fleur was hugging Victoire tight. They all listened to the story in disbelief.

Bill had many questions and when he exhausted Rose, he even went to the receptionist who didn't hesitate to answer with what he knew about her most recent update. Not many people said 'no' to Bill, he looked fearsome with the scars on his face.

Louis was the last to arrive; he had been in Ireland at school and seemed hesitant to say how he got to England so fast. They were all sure it was an illegal portkey, though the fact that _Louis_ did something _illegal_ was hard to believe. He didn't look travel weary at all and his robes had no wrinkles.

His eyes were glued on Rose the whole time she was telling him the story. She had no doubt that he was trying to piece together what she wasn't saying – trying to understand if there was a connection between the bracelet on Rose's wrist and what happened to his sister.

He held her hands in his while he spoke. He had soft hands that hadn't seen much sun. Her's felt rough and calloused, and beat up. After she was done speaking, he looked down at her hands and thumbed the swollen one. He felt for the bracelet on her wrist. "Oh no Rose," he murmured. "This is all true? It's happening?"

Rose shrugged and resisted the urge to rip her hands away from Louis, for he actually knew something about the situation.

"It's all okay Lou. No worries." She gave him a smile, but he just tightened his hold on her.

"Rose. . ."

"Not here," she said quietly and then turned back to sit in the chair by Victoire.

_Not here, not ever, _said Greg.

__No more people involved in this. _From now on it'll be just me, _thought Rose. _I'll have to get rid of Scorpius too somehow._

_Fat chance that'll happen, _said Marta

It was another hour before both Molly and Lucy came out. Lucy had bags under her eyes, Rose didn't know if she slept after her night shift at all. She'd probably been awake over 30 hours so far. It was already late afternoon now.

"She's safe and stable," Lucy told them all. Everyone gave a sigh of relief.

Bill and Fleur started bombarding the twins with questions about how Dom was now. Then Rose was included in the questions when they talked about Dom's slow decline. Some of the questions were tough: 'why had nobody noticed Dom was doing this?' 'Does she not usually sleep in her bed?' 'You didn't think to question her and ask what she was doing?' 'You didn't notice her weight gain and think to mention it?'

They all answered everything the best they could. Dom was an adult, none of them were going to babysit her and make sure she was home every evening. Everyone came and went. They were all just so busy that they didn't even notice that Dom was slipping away, sure they noticed weird things, but it only all came together today.

Bill still didn't look impressed and Fleur had a frown on her face as they looked at the three girls. Finally their questions slowed, and then stopped. Bill sat down on the chair with a loud sigh, putting his head in his hands. Fleur had stress lines around her eyes and mouth, her short silver hair was in a bun on her head. She asked Lucy and Molly, "but when can we see our daughter?"

"It shouldn't be much longer. She'll still be unconscious," Lucy replied. Fleur nodded and sat down beside her husband, putting her arms around him.

"So Dom is a drug addict," Victoire said. She wiped some of the tears from her eyes and gave a warbled laugh. "Next thing you know, little Lou is going to start cross-dressing."

Louis's cheeks turned red. "Indeed not!"

Victoire pinched his cheek. "You would make such a beautiful girl," she crooned. The conversation that ensured helped lighten the mood until a medi-witch came to get them.

"She's unconscious, but she can now have visitors. Immediate family first."

Bill, Fleur, Victoire, and Louis all followed the Healer through the doors. Rose looked at Molly and Lucy but they didn't say anything. Half an hour later Victoire came out and said they could go in.

"I've got to go home, I need to tell Teddy and the kids about Dom. I'll bring them all by in a little bit." Victoire gave them all a hug. "She looks bad, but this is just the beginning. She'll get better. Thanks for finding her before it was too late."

They just took a quick visit in to see Dom. Her parents had already set up the chairs right by the bed and Fleur had summoned some flowers for the bedside table. She certainly looked better than she did on the street.

"Her coma won't last much longer than two days, maybe even as little as a day," Lucy said as they were standing there looking at Dom. "She's a fighter and will get through all this. We'll bring back some supper for you lot."

Molly, Lucy, and Rose left the hospital for to round up some food from the restaurant across the street. They didn't talk much. There was so much to say, but nobody said anything.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So, this happens to be my last update for awhile; 'twas good while it lasted! I'm actually off to the Arctic for a few weeks so if I get any reviews I will definitely not be able to reply until I am home - no service, cell, or email. Cheers all and have a great rest of the summer or winter in whatever hemisphere you are located. Hopefully the weather is kind and the people are jolly. :)**


	26. Rain and more rain

October 22, 2026

* * *

><p>The news soon spread throughout the family about Dom. In the next two days, every single member of their extended family had made a trip to the hospital. Everyone had similar statements of awe and disbelief about Dom: they couldn't really believe she had taken street drugs, was addicted to them, was living on the street, had gained a lot of weight, and almost died because of the drugs. Everyone who made their visits seemed to question Rose, Lucy, and, Molly about every single aspect of their lives, and to Rose, it felt like they were being blamed. Dom stayed unconscious throughout the exclamations and explanations. Rose didn't talk much and left most of it to her cousins. She sat hunched in a chair with her head in her hands while Molly shifted uncomfortably on her seat as her father was asking them questions. Lucy had a sullen face when their Nana Molly had her turn to ask them about the situation. Nobody could really believe that this happened, it was almost inconceivable to them and their family.<p>

Rose's parents came and went. Thankfully they were one of the few people who didn't seem to blame the three girls, or subtly suggest that maybe they should have paid more attention. Her parents were so relieved she was safe and well. Rose was sure if her relationship with her mum was just a little better she would have gotten some sort of talk, but as it was her hand was squeezed hard and concern and questions were in her mum's eyes, inviting conversations that Rose didn't want to have. She pretended she didn't see it.

Her parents wanted her to come home for a few days, but Rose didn't want to leave the hospital yet, not while Lucy and Molly were still there. The twins were given the week off of work, but they didn't intend to leave their place of work. Lucy had pulled some blankets from the storage room and was passed out cold laying over three chairs in the waiting room, her head in Molly's lap. Molly was looking rough; her brown hair was frizzed out of its ponytail, bags under her eyes.

Molly barely acknowledged her parents when they came to check up on them and see Dom. She seemed to still be traumatised about everything; about the fact that she hadn't been there for Dom and didn't notice anything in the past few weeks.

There was nothing they could do to help Dom out of the coma. It was a whirlwind of a time and everything else in her life seemed to take a seat on the backburner, to the chagrin of the voices in her head who wouldn't shut up.

Scorpius hadn't replied to the letter and Rose hoped he wasn't dead on their couch, but Lucy didn't seem concerned at all.

Her Aunt Fleur came out of the room on the fourth day and shook her head, her hands shaking. She went to talk to their Nana Molly, her steps light on the floor as she crossed in front of them, eyes averted.

_I need a break_, Rose thought. _Right now._

It felt like she couldn't breathe in, her lungs were compressed.

She felt so vacant, so distanced from her body. Her mind was in turmoil, everything was looming on the horizon. She just needed to get away – a day off from the sickly smelling hospital. It was better than waiting indefinitely. It was perhaps insanely selfish of her, but Rose just didn't care. Anything was better than sitting in silence, day after day, for Dom to come around. She thought she could handle it, but it was too much. As soon as she was awake they'd have answers, but all this whispering, speculation, and interrogation was driving her mad.

Once out of Mungo's, she closed her eyes and listened to the noisy kerfuffle around her.

_Where should I go. . . _

She wanted to be alone, away from the noise and traffic and people, away from Canwood and gangs and drugs. Away from an angry Scorpius who was probably looking for answers, if he wasn't already dead in their apartment. She needed to go somewhere in the wilderness.

She eventually thought of an area she hadn't been to in years.

Rose was still in the magic part of the world, so she didn't even move from her spot on the sidewalk as she lifted her wand and whisked herself away to a meadow kilometers outside the city. There were a few wildflowers in the swaying grass and trees that were shifting colours from green to red, orange, and yellow in the autumn.

Rose stumbled out to the middle of the meadow and laid down in the tall grass, letting her world turn towards the sky and the grey clouds that were within it. She was completely alone, no sounds of human civilization or technology was anywhere. The grass surrounded her, encompassed her. She was at peace, for the first time in a few weeks.

* * *

><p>When the clouds opened up a few hours later and rain started coming down, Rose closed her eyes and hummed. It was a soft sweet melody, reminiscent of a conglomeration of popular folk songs she picked up from her travels.<p>

The rain cooled her cheeks, soothed her head.

After about half an hour of humming, she heard the soft crack of apparition not too far away. She stayed in her calm place even when she heard footsteps walk through the grass towards her. There was only one possible person that it could be and she just didn't care what he thought of her at this moment so she kept her soft tune going.

_Typical._

She didn't want to talk to him at all; she just wanted to be alone. He was obviously going to be mad and pissed at her. Maybe he'd start yelling or hex her as she lay in the grass. Goodness knows she would deserve it for what she did, but there were too many heavy weights on her at the moment and she felt like she was being drowned in all she was carrying inside.

_Just leave me alone, _Rose wanted to say. _I just need time before I'm ready for you to confront me. _

The footsteps were light and they paused right before her. She kept her eyes closed, her humming steady as she tensed and clenched her fists. She wasn't going to speak and she didn't want to talk to him. Not right now.

He seemed to sense her mood, for he said nothing. She could hear the weight of him sit down beside her, and then lay down. Grass crunched quietly beneath him and she could feel his body heat, he was close enough to her. She was confused by his actions.

She finally peeked out of the corner of her eye, still humming softly. Scorpius' hands were clasped on his chest, arm unbandaged, but face still multi-coloured. His eyes were closed as well. His shirt was soaked with rainwater already; Rose could only imagine how she looked; there wasn't a dry spot left on her.

He stayed steady and silent in his vigil, letting Rose do her own thing and not disturbing her. Rose gradually became less tense, letting her body slowly relax once again as they laid side by side in the grass.

OK, maybe it wasn't horrible that he was beside her, especially since he wasn't saying anything.

_This is an act, _said Greg in her head. _Don't fall for it. Don't get comfortable._

_Fuck off stupid voice._

When she ran out of songs to sing, her humming died down and then only the steady beat of the rain against the earth was present, steadily thrumming down upon them.

Maybe they would just stay out here forever and die in these positions. In this moment, Rose wouldn't mind that.

Finally Scorpius inhaled deeply. "The last time I spent the afternoon laying in the rain, I was seven years old," Scorpius began. He made no movements and neither did she. But she was listening.

"We had just returned from a visit to my grandparents and I was stuffed full of chocolate biscuits and milk. My parents were sitting in the sunroom of our house, surrounded by plants and books. They were talking and talking and talking, and we had just finished talking at my grandparents and I didn't want to listen to anymore of it. I just got up and walked took one of the back entrances outside. I wandered around the yard, and it was pouring outside by this point, but it was peaceful and quiet. I'd never really been by myself, or felt like I was alone before in my life. For some reason I decided to lay down in the wet grass and eventually I just fell asleep. I was out there for hours and when I woke up, it was dark out."

Scorpius stopped talking, but there was the hint of a smile on his face.

"Your parents didn't notice you were gone?"

"No, they thought I'd gone to my room. I was soaked to the bone and I spent most of the night outside. It was probably one of the best sleeps I'd ever had in my life. I never again did it again or even considered it, until now. It's nice to just get a break from life sometimes."

It was nice, indeed.

"Should you even be out here?" Rose eventually asked.

Scorpius exhaled. "Probably not, you'll have to help me get up off the ground."

_Oh no. _Rose sat up finally. Her head felt very heavy, her thick hair was absolutely soaked and weighing it down. She rubbed at her eyes. It was hard to tell the time of the day when it was overcast, but she was sure it was evening. The sky was darker as the rain continued to fall.

"Scorpius we need to talk."

"The answer to what you're going to ask is no."

Rose frowned at his colourful face; his eyes were still closed and he seemed utterly serene at the moment with water was dripping off his face.

"Scorpius, I don't want to be responsible for – "

"Rose, stop. Things like this happen, injuries occur all the time. You're not going off by yourself if you continue with this notion that you need to find Canwood. It's too dangerous."

"It's dangerous for you! I'm not the one who almost died."

His eyes opened and he looked at her. "Who's forcing you to find Canwood?"

Rose opened her mouth and closed it, no words coming out. _This _was what she didn't want. No interrogations. She couldn't tell him. "Nobody is." Rose crossed her legs under her and stared Scorpius down. He didn't force the issue, even though disappointment was radiating from every part of his body.

_Idiot, this is the perfect chance to tell him! He'll understand! Just tell him, _Marta said angrily. Rose remained silent.

"A busted arm and some bruises are not the worst injury I have ever received while doing this; it's part of my profession at the moment. . . but it's not part of yours."

Rose had no answer to that, no real response where she could justify anything.

Scorpius continued. "This is the reality of the work. Bad things happen, decisions taken hastily sometimes have consequences you've never imaged. But you continue. You move on and try to ensure it doesn't happen again."

_Since when did he become so smart, _Greg said insolently. _Why can't he remain annoying and an arsehole forever?_

_He sounds like you, Rose, _Marta said, _you with__ your mantra of keep going, never give up. _

Rose felt a frog in her throat and struggled to keep her voice even. "I'm so sorry Scorpius," she whispered, "about everything."

Scorpius gave a smile. "How now. This is neither the worst injury I have received nor the worst I will get in times to come," he repeated with conviction. "You're safe, I'm safe. We're fine."

_We're fine. _

Rose felt tears come to her eyes, but with all the rainwater and the falling darkness it would be almost impossible for him to tell. Rose was thankful for that, she didn't want to be perceived as weak. She pulled her wet hair off her face and laid back down in the grass that was flattened so nicely under her. She didn't lay on her back this time, but curled up on her side and faced Scorpius. Her fingers were reaching out, just inches from his shoulders.

"How's Dom?" Scorpius said softly. "Are you okay?"

Rose gave a half sob that she tried to mask as a cough. She wouldn't cry in front of him; she could hold it in. "I'm fine. Of course I'm fine. I don't know about Dom though, she's in a coma right now. She's not well at all. Lucy seems certain that she'll be awake soon."

"Did I imagine – I don't remember you being hurt from the warehouses, so did I imagine all the blood on you?"

"That was from Dom. I tried to wake her up and she was mad, hopped up on her drugs or whatever, and threw an oil lamp at me when I wasn't expecting it. It smashed on my head." Rose ran her hands on the spot where it hit. There was still remnants of soreness in the spot and perhaps a minor concussion. "Mad is rather an understatement though, she went psycho. . . it was very surreal being there. I didn't think she could ever act like that."

Scorpius turned his head the barest bit to better look at her. She focused her attention on the blades of grass under her fingertips.

"An oil lamp?"

Rose nodded.

"Drugs?"

Rose nodded again.

"Bloody hell, that's insane. What happened, exactly?"

_Fuck, what happened was insane. . . _ Rose started telling Scorpius about everything – the potions lab, Piper, and the triplet who knew where Dom was. He listened patiently, only quietly interrupting a few times with questions. His brow was furrowed when Rose finished speaking.

"I think we need to question Dom. It sounds like she'll have some answers we need. I think everything you've just said fits together somehow. . . I wish I could have helped, maybe things would have been a bit different."

"It's not like you had a bad reason for not helping," Rose said plainly.

Scorpius shrugged and turned to look back up at the sky. He put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. "So do you feel the need to go back to the hospital at this moment?"

Rose frowned. Scorpius was looking awful relaxed for wanting to return.

"No," Rose said quite honestly. "I'm not ready."

"Good. Neither am I. It's a good thing this is a warm rain." He didn't say anything else after that and his breathing slowed down. Rose stayed curled up on her side, content. She stared at his bruised face, the raindrops that ran off his cheeks and the raindrops that were stuck in his eyelashes. His blonde hair was darker, soaked, and hanging in loose threads around his face. She stared until her own eyes began to close, fluttering until she was fast asleep.

* * *

><p>She felt a tickle on her fingers some time later and opened her eyes to darkness and warmth. The rain had stopped and she was curled into his side. She felt a tickle on her fingers again.<p>

"Rose," Scorpius whispered. "We should probably get back."

Rose took a deep sigh, but didn't move. In a different state of mind, she would have shoved him away from her and created space.

She just felt dead inside. Scorpius's hand rubbed against her fingers again in a soothing manner.

"Rose … "

Rose pulled her hand away from his and curled her arms into her body. The grass was wet under her head and Scorpius was warm by her side.

"I think I see the sun rising," Scorpius continued. "Someone might be worried."

Dom was the one everyone was focused on right now, Rose really doubted that anyone noticed she was missing.

"And the birds are starting to sing … "

Rose stared blankly at him. He eventually turned his head to look at her. "Rose. Are you okay?"

She shrugged. "I might stay here for the day," she whispered. _Or the next week. _

_You can't avoid all your problems, _Marta said. _You can't check out of society and run away. _

Rose blinked away tears again and finally rolled away from him and sat up. She was soaked to the bone and rubbed her eyes to push the tears back in. Now was not the time to lost control of herself.

"Are you ready to talk?" Scorpius asked softly. He looked concerned and confused. Rose put her head on her knees and looked at him.

"No. Let's go." She ignored the look of hurt that briefly crossed his face and stood up, her legs numb. Of course he was disappointed. She wouldn't expect otherwise if their roles were reversed. He was probably incredibly frustrated as well.

Scorpius rolled over to his side, but then groaned and rolled back. He held out his hand to her. "I need some help."

Rose reached down and pulled his hands up, before slithering an arm under her shoulder and lifting him up. He stumbled into her side and she kept him steady.

"You probably shouldn't even be out, should you?" she asked him as she readied her wand.

"I won't tell Lucy if you won't."

"It's your funeral."

* * *

><p>Lo and behold, Lucy was pacing in the apartment when they apparated in, sopping wet.<p>

"Where were you?" she said angrily as she stormed up to Scorpius. "Do you have any idea of the condition you're in? And you're wet? What? Are you trying to die?"

"Sorry," mumbled out Rose as Lucy took Scorpius' other side so they could set him on the couch.

"No! Sorry is _not_ acceptable. You can't just leave and not tell anyone. _Stop_ Scorpius! Just don't even say a word." She shoved a spoonful of medicine in his mouth and pulled a blanket over him, even though he was resisting her efforts to lay down.

"Rose, you can't keep bloody running away and not telling anyone. Do you know how close I was to calling the Aurors? _The flippin Aurors_! Rose. I can't. This is crazy. Look what happened to Dom_. I can't_. I just."

There was no trace of humour in her face. The past few days at the hospital had turned good-natured Lucy into a nightmare: Her eyebrows were furrowed and stress lines were on her face. Bags were present under her eyes, her clothes were days old, and her hair was a greasy mess.

"Lucy – "

"No. Just shut up. I don't want to hear anything. I'm leaving and if you two leave my flat before I'm back I will never forgive you."

"Is Dom – "

"No. She's not awake yet." She turned on her heels and slammed the door on the departure.

Rose closed her eyes and pressed her fingers against them. Tears were leaking from her eyes that she couldn't stop. Not this time. Her legs felt like jelly.

Scorpius slowly sat up from the couch, pulling the blanket off. He stood up and went to her, wrapping his arms around her. She tensed, but didn't say anything. Then she was crying on his shoulder unreservedly, letting everything fall out, everything that had been bundled up for so long.

He squeezed tight and just held her, as no one had held her in so long.

"It's okay," he whispered. "We'll get through this."

Her body shook and sobs overcame her, and still Scorpius hugged her tight. His arms were her lifeline and were keeping her from completely falling apart, keeping her together, and providing a comfort that she sorely missed and desperately needed. Everything from the past week, from the past month came pouring out of her. It was finally too much. She was just one person. Never had she been as sad, stressed, and lonely since her return to London.

He led her to her room and pulled out some dry clothes when her shaking stopped and the tears weren't as prominent, just dry wracking sobs. She barely managed to get her clothes on and as it was, Scorpius had to help her. His hands pulled her shirt off, trying not to touch her skin, and he pulled her pyjama shirt over her head. He kissed her forehead and tucked her into bed, brushing back the unruly curls that were scattered around her face. A fresh bout of tears started again. Her face was tear streaked and red.

Rose sat up and grabbed his hand before he could leave the room.

"Can you stay with me? Please? Just for tonight?" she said hoarsely, her face extremely vulnerable. She needed someone to be close to her. She needed another presence who couldn't judge her anymore, not when he'd seen her at her worst.

He pulled off his own wet clothes and turned out the lights. He crawled under the blankets, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. Her head was on his shoulder, cradled, and they were wrapped closely together on her small bed. Their feet were sticking out the end and there was almost no room to move from their spots.

"I'll always be here if you need me."


	27. A tale and a twisted potion

October 23, 2026

* * *

><p>Rose awoke in the morning tangled in the bedsheets and missing a warm presence next to her. She felt groggy, but more awake and well rested than she'd felt all week. She kicked her legs free of the sheets and laid in bed, smelling something delicious wafting through the air from the kitchen.<p>

She just spent the night with Scorpius – she exposed herself and broke down and he comforted her. Somewhere deep down she felt a bit humiliated, because it _was _Scorpius, but she didn't really care at this moment in time. There were bigger things out there and it was _nice. _Pleasantly nice. Even she could admit it to herself. Maybe that was just what (or who) she needed. Exposing those emotions was something she wasn't used to the past few years. She remembered travelling with Danny around the world mountain climbing; he wasn't one for tears and he lived too fast of a lifestyle to let "girl emotions slow him down," which wasn't great for her well-being. Emotions couldn't be bottled away forever.

Speaking of Danny. . .

_Does he still have voices in his head? _she wondered. _Is he healing yet? _

She hadn't thought about him in so long, that part of her life felt like it was a lifetime ago. Not even comprehensible or important. But it was still part of her past and she couldn't avoid it like how she used to with everything else.

_Voices are a byproduct of some magic, _Marta said. _He's a muggle, so any magic is through your association. If his voices have not gone away then the situation is just going from bad to worse. This is something you need to know about to help him with._

_Just forget about him. Leave him to his demons. He treated you like shit when you returned to London and doesn't respect you or himself, _Greg said.

_This is your problem. He would not have had these problems with a normal muggle woman. The least you can do is check up on him._

She couldn't escape this mess she was in. And it wasn't like she didn't have the voices in her own head as well that were troubling her. The darkness that consumed Rose the previous night seemed to lurk just out of reach. Then she heard Scorpius in the kitchen as he dropped something and cried out in pain. That made her smile and take a deep breath to calm herself. He was nearby. She was okay.

She rolled over in the bed, but was already at the edge of the mattress. How on earth two over-six-foot tall people fit in her bed was beyond her. She hoped he had a good sleep nonetheless. Hers was grand, regardless of the room available in the bed. If anything, it helped to have that feeling of compression and solidness around her – a sturdy rock in a hurricane.

When she was ready, she put her knotted up hair in a messy bun on the top of her head and slogged out to the kitchen to see Scorpius cooking. He was shirtless, and yet the warmth that had radiated off of him last night still made her cheeks redden when she remembered cuddling up close to him, cradled in his embrace. He had on a pair of sweatpants that hung low on his hips. Lean muscles were exposed along his back, shoulders, and arms as he cracked some eggs in the frying pan.

He turned to grin at her when he heard her footsteps and then he was pouring coffee in a mug and setting it down in front of her, not even caring about his appearance. Rose did her best to look at the wooden linear lines on the table. She didn't care last night when he was dressed like that; why should she now?

"Feeling better?" he asked as he set a mug of steaming black coffee in front of her. She pulled it in front of her and inhaled the bitter aroma. He knew how she liked her coffee. It was grand.

She shrugged and glanced up at him as he was looking intently at her. "Yes, but I want to apologise for yesterday, and my huge – "

"Stop," Scorpius said. "There's nothing you need to apologise for. Regardless of the situation, that was the best sleep I've had in months. And sometimes we all need a day to be human and let go of what has been pulling us down."

Rose sipped her coffee, even though it was still a little too hot, and gave what she hope was a sincere smile. It was more than needing a day to be human, but she couldn't express any of that in words.

"Still … thanks."

He reached towards her and squeezed her hand gently before turning back to the stove. He looked over his shoulder and gave an easy grin. "What sort of eggs do you like? Scrambled? Sunny side up? Over easy?"

"Any, really. Where did the eggs come from?" The last time she remembered opening the fridge there was maybe a celery stick and an apple inside. Yet, she was sure that was bacon she was smelling, and she saw him flip the toast in the frying pan.

"You lot had no food here, just crumbs, so I went and got some groceries early this morning when you were still passed out."

The clock read nine o'clock. Rose looked at him over her mug and felt a sudden tension fall over her shoulders. "You disobeyed Lucy's orders?" The vision of Lucy yelling at her clouded her mind and the gulp of coffee she took got stuck in her throat. It was painful to swallow.

He scooped some scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast on two plates and set them on the table in front of her instead of answering. Rose still stared at him and he almost started glaring because she couldn't find it in her to start scarfing down the food right away.

"Lucy brought news this morning," he finally said. "And gave me leave to get groceries when I asked."

The enticing smell was below her, but she couldn't pick up her fork, couldn't take a bite.

"What news."

"Dom is awake – " Rose was halfway standing before Scorpius waved her down again. " – but she can't have visitors for another, oh four hours. They're running diagnostics and only immediate family is allowed in at the moment. _Eat._"

She felt relief fall from her and put her head in her hands. "Oh thank fucking Merlin … " Then she remembered an important detail of yesterday. "Wait, how are _your _injuries?"

"Eat," he commanded again and jabbed his fork in her direction. "It's getting cold and it's about time you had a solid meal. My injuries are fine. You all worry too much about me. Lucy and Molly are worse than my mother."

Rose exhaled loudly. "I'm so happy to hear that." Her appetite returned and she demolished a piece of bacon in two bites. Oh, it was all glorious news indeed. Scorpius had his coat hanging on the back of his chair, though why he didn't keep regular clothes on after grocery shopping was a mystery. She wasn't complaining and she felt ridiculously happy about everything.

_That glorious eh? _said Marta.

_Shut up stupid voice, _said Rose, and then got out of her head into the world where a real conversation was happening.

"This is the first time I've seen you smile like that in a long time," Scorpius observed.

Rose felt her cheeks and neck redden, but still managed to reply honestly. "This is the first time I've had something to be happy about. So Dom's talking, lucid, and everything?"

"And everything, I've heard. More bacon?"

She ate it all already? "Yes please. Since when do you a cook?"

Scorpius shrugged. "I don't mind doing it. When I lived by myself I had to learn or be stuck eating burned spaghetti every night. I never get the chance to cook living with Al since everything is a precious object in the kitchen. It's easy enough now though."

And he dished out another piece of toast and a few slices of bacon and they dined in silence, though it wasn't tense, awkward, or weird at all. It was _nice._

* * *

><p>They arrived at 1:00 pm on the dot at St. Mungos hospital. Rose felt jittery as she climbed up the stairs to the third floor where Dom was located. They only knew she was awake and lucid – not what sort of mental or physical state she would be in, or how bad off she looked. Would she remember anything? Would she be in denial? Scorpius said Lucy didn't really say anything when she stopped by early in the morning.<p>

"Aunt Fleur and Uncle Bill just left." Molly was in the waiting room when they emerged on the floor. She left Lorcan sitting on the chair as she went up to them. "She knows you two want to talk to her about what happened," she said and ran her hand through her wet hair, freshly washed for the first time in a week. She looked a little nervous. "Dom's not looking or doing very good right now – "

"We know," said Rose. "I mean, I saw her when we brought her in and there's no way she would be better in this short of a timeframe."

"Yes, but I mean … well, she's going to ask you for drugs," Molly finally said. "The Healers found her stomach full of a mixture of muggle and magic street drugs she got from who-knows-where when she was admitted, and I think she's been taking them all for some time now. The magical street drug is the most dangerous and it's something we can't slowly wean her off of. We have no samples for experimentation or dilution and this is the first case we've had at Mungo's so far. Ever."

"We wouldn't have any to give her anyway," said Scorpius. Rose glanced over at him. _She_ had samples from the raid she and Lucy went on, but he didn't say anything or give any indication that he remembered her telling him.

Molly raised her eyebrows. "Hmm. And somehow I don't believe you. You both are_ so_ innocent these days. Just be careful and don't take anything she says to heart. It's still not _her_ her."

Rose and Scorpius were silent as they walked down the hallway. The door to Dom's room was slightly ajar and Rose knocked softly, as if to avoid startling her, before pushing it open and walking inside. The room was plain white with two chairs on either side of the bed where Dom lay. The only brightness in the bland and perfunctory room was from the few cards and bouquet of red and orange snapdragons on the bedside table. Dom herself was restless and avoided looking at them for as long as possible. She was moving her head from side to side, looking up at different corners of the ceiling and seemingly lost in her own world. It was as if her body was restrained and that was the only form of movement she possessed. Rose cleared her throat.

"What the fuck do you two want?" she said when she finally noticed that they surrounded her on either side. "Come to terrorise me? Call me fat? God I'm so tired of everyone telling me what to do. I don't want visitors."

"We're just here to talk," Rose said softly as sat down on the chair, despite the rudeness of it. Scorpius sat on down as well, as silent as a waif, and folded his hands on his lap.

"I have nothing to say," Dom said. "I hate my life right now and don't want everyone to bombard me with questions and stare at my fucking fat rolls."

Her cheeks were certainly chubbier than what they were weeks ago, same with her fingers, and arms. Rose had been so consumed by her own life and problems that she didn't even notice the physical changes of Dom. Some of the bizarre eating habits, sure, but not the actual weight gain.

"Dom, you're really lucky to be alive," said Rose.

Dom's eyes met hers and seemed to swallow Rose whole; her black pupils were small pinpricks and there were red veins visible in the white. "Lucky? It feels like there's a fucking monster in my stomach right now. It's scratching and stabbing and needs something to feed it or it's going to tear through by body at any moment. It'll kill me before the fucking Twisted-spiff stuff does that everyone says is _soooo_ horrible. No. This is worse. It just … craves." Her head started moving side to side again, body motionless.

"You'll feel better soon enough," said Rose, though she didn't mean it. What could she even say? She had no idea what it was like or what the drug did.

"I mean, I'm better. Not on my death bed anymore. They've got to let me go and take this fucking spell off my body. They can't keep me in the hospital forever. It's against my rights as a witch."

Rose looked at the frown on Scorpius' face. His foot was tapping. "That feeling's not going to go away," he said. "Not for weeks. The monster is going to get loose, and it will start to eat and obliterate your insides, but in an entirely mental way. And it will be brutal and you'll feel like you need to rip open your own stomach, but you just have to ride it out and not give in to its demands. The important thing is that once it finishes, it will leave."

"How the fuck do you know that?" Dom demanded and Rose likewise was curious.

"Conversations I've picked up. I've never understood the reference until know … I've heard it mentioned as a dragon."

"A dragon has got nothing on this shark toothed, long clawed maniac killing me from the inside out." She suddenly gave a small high pitched scream that made Rose jump about a foot in the air and make her hair stand up on her arms. Scorpius had his hands clenched.

"Dom. How did this start?" Rose asked once she felt somewhat composed.

"In my fucking medicine cabinet. The vial Molly labelled 'unknown.' And who is the potioneer in the family that had to experiment with it? Yeah, me."

"What do you mean?" Rose could only stare as Dom's chest started rising and falling at a faster rate. Her hands still hung limply be her sides, and Rose wondered how long the subduing charm that was placed on her would last. She was only in danger of herself.

"Why do you want to know? What could you possibly care, you're just going to turn around and tell the Healers. Tell my parents. Lucy. Louis."

Scorpius leaned forwards. "We need this information because we are conducting an investigation into Gradford who is one of the drug lords taking over the city, street by street. He's introduced and is controlling this new drug 'Spiff,' and it's working its way into both the muggle and magical world. As you've experienced, this drug is toxically enchanting, highly addictive to the point of ... well, murder in some cases, and is targeted towards a younger demographic. We need to know everything you've learned about it."

Rose didn't miss his use of 'we.' Dom didn't look like she cared. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she stared at the ceiling.

"Malfoy, leave," she demanded suddenly. "I need to talk to Rose. Alone."

_Bad idea, _said Greg. _You know what she's going to ask. Don't do it._

Scorpius and Rose met eyes. He slowly rose from his chair, eyes staying connected the whole time and seemingly telling her he'd be right outside if his head nod was anything to go by. He was gone in a swoop. The door didn't shut all the way behind him and Rose was sure he'd be listening in.

Dom instantly turned her gaze to Rose. "I know you have it."

"Uh, what?" She wasn't expecting this sort of confrontation and tone of voice.

"The bottle that was in my room. And Piper sent a letter, said you took some with you when you ransacked the house."

"Dom, I don't – "

"Don't fucking lie. Piper is dead now, killed because you destroyed the potions, worth thousands of galleons in total. Do you know how long it takes to brew? Long enough that I'm not accepting '_I don't know what you're talking about_.'"

Piper was _dead_? Rose opened and closed her mouth without saying anything. It's not like she knew or cared about him, but dead, really? It was too sudden to be true. She saw him alive only a few days ago.

"What do you want Dom? You're not getting anything."

_Idiot, _said Marta.

A gleam appeared in Dom's eyes and Rose realised she really shouldn't have confirmed anything.

Dom's voice dropped and she took on a pleading tone. "Bring it here. Sneak it in. Please Rose, I'm begging you."

"Dom, I'm not – "

"You don't understand. Do you know why I can't move my body? They've binded me to the table so I don't rip my own stomach apart like I was trying to do when I first woke up. I _need_ what they can't give me here. Scorpius doesn't know shit. I _will _die, unless you bring me it. Die from the inside out." Her eyes became watery. "Rose, I need your help. You're the _only_ one who can help me. I don't want to die yet."

Rose's stomach clenched and she looked at her hands, poking her swollen, purple skin that was her right hand, and watching the white rebound to red. Dom's hands were motionless at her side, overtop the blanket that covered her. They were death's hands: bluish white with fingers partly curled.

"Then you need to talk," Rose said suddenly. "Answer all our questions. Then I'll bring it."

"Swear."

"I promise."

"No, swear it to me, your cousin. By the blood that binds us."

_Don't swear. You know you're not going to do it, _Marta said.

_You have to do it. She's suffering, Greg replied. _

_She'll only suffer more and for longer. This will not be helping._

Dom was intent, crazed eyes focused on Rose. "Dom, I swear," Rose said softly. "I swear on the blood that binds us." Dom nodded her head.

"Go get Scorpius then."

He was standing right at the door, waiting to come in when Rose stepped out in the hallway; she barely could open her mouth before he was in front of her and imposing in her personal space. He gripped her shoulder tightly as he whispered into her ear, breath warm and insistent, mindful of the open door behind them and Dom still incapacitated in her bed, waiting.

"Rose you can't," he said. "She can't have any. It's too addictive. I know she's in pain now, but it will pass eventually."

Rose loosened his hand and pulled back so she could look him in the eyes. "I know. I lied to her."

"But you bonded it with blood?"

"No … I just said it but we didn't do a blood oath."

The relief was palpable. His hand dropped from her shoulder after giving it a squeeze and then he pushed open the door to reenter Dom's room. If he was so relieved about that, what would he do if he knew about her hand? A blood oath was one thing, but a blood bracelet? For the first time, Rose became curious of his reaction. He would ... care, right? But why would she care what he thought about it! It was stupid thoughts to have when talking to Dom was more important.

Dom was eyeing her up when she seat down on the seat again.

"What can you tell us," said Scorpius.

"The day you showed up on our doorstep," Dom said, directing it at Rose. "It all started when you showed up at the beginning of August. You were injured and I had to make bruise balm because you're an idiot and didn't leave Danny sooner."

Even though it was so long ago, Rose could still remember it vividly. From the fight, to the running, to her cousins, and then to her first encounter with Scorpius since Hogwarts.

"There were two bottles in the cupboard Molly found that weren't labelled. I _always_ label my potions. The first one was easy enough to figure out – Veritaserum, but the other was some sort of, well, then we called it 'Twisted Veritaserum' because it retained some of the properties of truth telling, but it was different. Very different."

This was almost like the old Dom speaking now, and Scorpius was listening with rapt attention. Rose was trying to remember the potions that Dom was brewing on that day, but was coming up with nothing. She had been getting a healing then and not focused on anything else.

"I started experimenting with the twisted potion in the days afterwards, trying to figure out its properties … _what_ it was. It was wrong – weird, and there were some ingredients in it that I didn't recognise. And that was the craziest part because even though I haven't used every plant ever, I can usually tell what area of the world it's from, by distinguishing magical characteristics. This one had nothing. And before I knew it I couldn't stop thinking about the potion. It was infiltrating into my thoughts all day every day. Morning, at work, and at night. I would wake up in the middle of the night and just need to stir it, and be near it. And then I found I could barely leave its presence, it was compelling me to such an extent … "

"Just the potion's smell was enticing enough?" asked Scorpius. "When did you first try it?"

"Oh, it was maybe the end of September. It just got to be too much, you know? There was like this vacant space inside of me, this void that could never be filled that being near the potion no longer satisfied." Dom's voice turned bitter. "Food couldn't block it and I basically ate anything that was around. And there was just this little voice in my head telling me to try a bit. Just a taste. That's all. Then maybe it would just stop demanding all my attention and I would be satisfied."

"It didn't turn out to be just a taste though," Rose said. She leaned back in her chair and put her feet on the corner of Dom's bed, crossing her arms.

"No. It didn't. I don't know if I can describe it. It was like the world came alive, the walls and plants and floor and sky were all visible in a way I'd never seen before. 'Twisted Veritaserum' was an apt name for it. It shifts and alters reality into a crazy, beautiful way. Well at first. You can get bad spiffs as well."

"How did you find more of it when you ran out?"

"Piper at first. He was under some sort of blackmail contract he couldn't get out of. He'd alluded it to me a few times in the past year when he supplied me with special ingredients. I had the extra Veritaserum in the closet and could manipulate the properties enough to _almost_ recreate the drug. But I was missing something major. Piper had the contacts and more of the potion. I figured out what extra ingredients I needed through him and it was simple enough to finally make an exact replica of Spiff."

Scorpius looked so surprised, confused, and happy that Rose wished she could read his mind. He leaned forward closer to Dom. Rose felt this twinge of jealousy that she disregarded. It was too absurd of a feeling to have at this moment. It probably was saying something for Dom's potioneering talent that Scorpius was this interested.

"How is it made? Could you tell us the ingredients and instructions?"

Dom thought for a moment. "After Rose brings me something first."

Scorpius inhaled sharply but moved along. "How long had Piper been making it?"

"Long ass time. Six months or so. Couldn't get out of it."

"Was he himself addicted to it?"

"No," Dom's voice sounded bitter. "He couldn't afford it, and he always wore a mask when he was brewing." Rose wasn't sure if Dom was bitter because she got addicted or some unknown reason they didn't know about."

"Where's Piper now?"

"Dead. He sent a note while I was out that said he was on the run for his life. I'm the only one who knows where his father lives and I was supposed to tell him about Piper and his predicament. Then I received another note from someone else saying Piper had been killed." Dom nodded towards the bedside table and Scorpius immediately pulled open the drawer to grab some papers inside and look at the notes himself.

That was a rather large disappointment hearing that news for the second time. Piper would probably know where Canwood was, Rose should have questioned him more when her and Lucy infiltrated the house.

"Did you ever meet any other members of the gang around Pipers' or anywhere else?" asked Rose.

"This batshit crazy woman always came to Piper's to order him around and monitor or collect what he was doing. But there were always people around; I don't know if they were part of the gang or not. Just the blonde haired tramp."

"Do you know her name?"

"No. God, I ran from her. If anyone spoke to her who wasn't supposed to she has a repertoire of dark spells she used." Dom's voice got quiet. "She burned someone's arm to a blackened, useless, charcoal when they sneezed as she was in the room. And also cruciatus'd someone who was spiffed out of their mind and they screamed and hallucinated horrible things for the rest of the day. I got the message loud and clear and kept my distance."

Dom's eyes closed and she sighed heavily, head resuming a twitching, turning motion. Rose reached out and grabbed Dom's hand. "Thanks for talking to us."

"Don't fucking forget your end of the bargain."

Scorpius put the notes back in the drawer and shut it. "Just wait. One last question: Where did the potions come from in the first place? Who initially put them in your cupboard?"

Dom gave a sharp scream of pain and Rose, again, jumped.

"I don't know," she gasped. "Whoever did it can burn in hell."

Then she gave another short-bursted scream. Rose and Scorpius left to her head frantically going back and forth and to see an Healer knocking at the door, waiting patiently for the two visitors to leave.

"You two finished right on time," she said, holding a bottle of bubbling potion in her hands. "She's in a bad state now. It'll be a slow healing process, but she'll get better." She slipped by them and went into the room. "Hi Ms. Weasley. It's time for your painkillers again … " The door shut behind her.

* * *

><p>"She was referring to Rebecca Box, wasn't she?" Rose said to Scorpius when they were having coffee and croissants in a little café outside Mungo's.<p>

"Very likely. I'm sure of it." He was frowning, eyebrows crunched together and finger tapping on the side of his mug. "It makes it more dangerous. For you, especially. I don't know if she will have heard who it was that stole the potions, but she's going to be out looking. The potions are expensive and time consuming – it won't go unnoticed."

Rose shrugged. Nobody knew her. "If anything, it's Lucy that's at risk. Piper seemed to know her." Did she say Lucy's name at all during the raid or Lucy say hers? Rose couldn't even remember. She dearly hoped not.

_You better be careful, _Marta said. _It'll be more dangerous to wander around town and ask questions._

"It's serious enough that I'm going to talk to my superior and talk about assigning extra people to watch her and the house. Hopefully we have enough Aurors or MLE's to spare. I'll collect the potions you got later tonight and bring them to the Ministry for secure holding and testing."

They finished their coffee and then Scorpius left, extracting promises from her that they would meet up in her flat at suppertime. She pulled her wind jacket tighter around her once she was outside in the brisk autumn weather. She hadn't been on her own in the street in such a long time now it seemed. She was sans Scorpius and sans any obligation besides one.

She went back to the flat and packed a backpack, grabbing her cellphone on a whim. Before she left she made herself a sandwich from a fully stocked fridge that she finished as she was walking down the stairs.

«Hey Courtney, it's Rose. Are you free to meet up? I have some questions to ask.»

The reply back was instant.

«You have impeccable timing. I have finally been fired and was walking home. I'll be at the park four blocks north of CFK. See you then."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: You know that feeling you get when you haven't written in a long time and decide to get reacquainted with your characters and plot, then you start reading from the beginning and inwardly cringe at every sentence … yeah, I have that feeling now. And I'm so torn as to whether I should scrap the whole thing, restart/rewrite, or keep trucking along and finish it. I'm leaning towards the latter at this point though, because I promised myself I would finish this. But still. Arhggghgh. My current self is angry at my past self. Though really, it's been a learning curve and I had to start somewhere. I'm sure future me will be just as annoyed with present, as present is with past - :) - Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	28. Swings and a thief

October 23, 2026

* * *

><p>The slides, monkey bars and bridges of the playground was teeming with children running about, and all of the adults seemed to be on the peripheries laying in blankets, soaking up the sun, and conversing as they watched their children. Rose found Courtney sitting on the swings digging her trainers into the sand below her; she had one empty swing next to her, but every other swing was full. The few coloured feathers in her hair were floating upwards in the breeze and her blonde hair was just hanging loose around her face. Hearing footsteps through the sand, she looked up at Rose.<p>

"You look different from a month ago," Courtney said. "Rose, right? Actually never mind. I'd recognise you anywhere. You're super tall and your hair is the most gorgeous wild mess I've ever seen."

Rose dropped her backpack on the sand and thumped down into the swing beside Courtney, chains clinking. "Thanks, I think. And thanks for agreeing to meet up with me."

Courtney shrugged and twisted her swing all the way around. Her lips were the cherry red Rose was accustomed to seeing her with. Her long loose skirt had flower patterns that contorted with the movement of the swing and the wind.

"I mean I have nothing else to do. I'm now unemployed – even though that was delayed by weeks. I'm super confused by everything that was said to me in the past day and a half, and I'm convinced everyone around me is a bloody psychopath."

"You lasted there a lot longer than I thought," said Rose. "No offense meant by that – I just mean with the last conversation I heard I was surprised you weren't fired then and there."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "I think it was because I knew all about the drug business and their posy of nobodies. It's easier to string troublesome ol' me along than hire a new person who might give away the whole business."

"You're not going to go to the Aur – police, I mean?" Courtney was a muggle still, Rose reminded herself. She had to be careful.

"I don't know. Probably. Eventually. I don't know what I'd say. I didn't really have any definitive proof – like pictures, or records of transactions. But now that I say that I wish I would have been doing something more active the past few weeks and gathering information. But whatever. I'm done with that place."

The chain of the swing was twisted all the way to the top and Courtney lifted her feet to go spinning around. Her body whipped around and around until she straightened out. She gave a small laugh, leaning back in the swing until she could drag her hair in the sand. She straightened up with a smile. "Brilliant. I love playgrounds. Have you ever heard the term 'muggle' before?"

Rose's eyes widened before she could think to mask any reactions.

"So it's a word!" Courtney said. "What does it mean?"

"Ummm." _Oh snap._ "It's just a slang word for … someone. I'm not entirely sure what it means. I don't think it's meant to be – derogatory."

_Well it probably was, _said Marta. _In her context it most likely was._

Courtney eyed her up. "I've been called that no less than 20 times in the past week. At first I just brushed it off. But I mean, it's the same word over and over. It's weird to be called that. I've checked online and everything but it's not anywhere. It has to mean something."

"Er. Yeah, I guess it's not that known to people. I've only heard it a few times myself."

"Oh well. So are you still looking for Canwood? He's stopped by a few times since our last conversation and I wasn't sure if I should have texted you to say that. I kind of thought you'd already caught up with him since he's easy enough to find."

Was she that incompetent? Rose was at a loss for words.

Courtney continued. "And his girlfriend has started hanging around the place in the evenings. She's so annoying. I've also heard rumour that he has kids. She's alluded it to it and other people have as well. Poor souls whoever they are."

Rose almost collapsed backwards off the swing. "I didn't know any of that. What's his girlfriend's name? What do you mean he's easy enough to find?"

"Girlfriends name is Branwen. And he keeps a pretty regular schedule. Tuesdays in the morning at CFK, hits up Pemty Tavern – apparently a dodgy place though I've never heard or seen it – on Thursdays and Fridays. I always see him walking by Wednesday and Friday mornings, but he doesn't come in. I don't know. I mean, it's not always that predictable, but pretty close. Mind you, this has only been the past few weeks. He was gone for a solid month or two a while ago."

She should be writing this down. She pulled her backpack towards her and pulled out Canwood's bio, flipping it over to the back side and writing down what Courtney was saying.

"Well, I've been a little busy lately, but I hope to find him soon."

_It better be soon honey, you don't have much time left, _said Marta.

"If I see him again, I can let you know. But I'm honestly hoping I'll never see that douchenoodle again."

"That would be great. Thanks." Rose finished scribbling all the extra information down. "Do you know anything about Rebecca Box? You warned me once about her, but anything else? What she does?"

"She manages the money for Snakebitten. She does a few other things as well, but I forget what the words were. Nothing I've ever heard before. It's like another language or something, even though they were speaking English for everything else. She's from another world?" Courtney gave a small laugh. "Sorry. I've been reading some conspiracy theories. She's around occasionally but nothing predictable like Canwood … But really, I can't believe I stayed there as long as I did. That was one fucked up job – pardon my French."

An occupation from the magic world was probably what Courtney had heard and didn't understand, even though she didn't realise it - so much for the gang members censoring themselves and caring about the Statute of Secrecy.

"Yes, it sounds bad. Being involved, even inadvertently, with a gang is never good."

Courtney twisted the swing chain up again and released it to go spinning. "I've heard some crazy rumours about the Box character. I think she's killed someone before."

"I've heard a rumour about her burning someone's arm off." Rose grimaced at that and Courtney made a face.

"Yeah. I heard that one. I was hoping it wasn't true," she said. "She's an illusionist too, or something. Voodoo magic? I'm probably sounding crazy right now myself. I did see her do some abnormal things though – like stuff that disregards the laws of physics. I'm just glad to be out. Sorry I'm bitching and word vomiting all over you." She gave a small laugh. "I don't even really know you."

"No worries, I get it. We're human. I'm just happy you're talking with me. I've had a rough week and this is calming – just to sit and have a conversation. Even though it's on a sketchy topic."

Just the fact that Courtney was a muggle and completely oblivious to Rose's troubles was comforting. There was no judgement coming from her.

"Why have you had a rough week? I'm curious now. I mean, if you're open for spilling. If not, then just ignore my nosiness. I'm not good with personal barriers sometimes."

"I don't mind – it's still quite surreal. One of my cousins is addicted to the drugs that Snakebitten distribute. And completely by accident as well because she found some and was trying to determine what it was – err, that's her job in real life. A chemist I guess you would say. I visited this morning at the hospital and she's in a bad state. Really bad."

Rose dug her shoes in to the sand and let the grains run off her feet. Bad state was putting it nicely.

"That is so shitty. Horrible. Those drugs are so messed up. Not that I'm prying but I bet it has something to do with Canwood, right? And why you're looking for him?" Rose half nodded. That was as good an alibi as any. "I hope she gets better. There's loads of good rehab centres in downtown London, when she's ready to accept help and needs a place to go."

Visions of Dom trying to rip her own stomach open flashed in Rose's mind. She definitely wasn't ready. "I think she's going to be in the hospital for a long while yet."

Courtney gave a sympathetic smile. "I understand that. I volunteer at a Womens Centre – which your cousin would probably benefit from as well with some of our services. There's support for her and her family. If you ever want more information I can send some."

"Thanks. I'll let you know."

The screaming of the kids drew their attention away and they watched a game of tag happening not too far away.

"I should probably get back to my house," Courtney said. "I have to pick my kid up from daycare soon."

"Wait, you have a kid?" Rose asked, astonished. Courtney looked so young. "How old are you?"

"Yes, he's just a wee lad. His name is Henry – he's 3. I had him when I was nineteen. That's why it's bittersweet that I've been fired. Oh well though, I'll find something else eventually that's close by. I always knew I wouldn't be at CFK long after Snakebitten took over. I have much more than just myself to think of now."

Courtney pulled her skirts around her as lifted herself from the seat, the chain jingling behind her. The feathers in her air were still being raised by the breeze and her skirt billowed around her when she let it go. She smiled and her eyes crinkled.

"I'll keep in touch, Rose. You're a pretty cool cat."

* * *

><p>By the time Rose got to the flat, the sun was falling in the sky, creating an orange glow upon the buildings around her. She walked up the stairs slowly, scheming in her mind on what to do and how to convince Scorpius of her need to go to Pemty Tavern tonight. It was definitely a dodgy place – nowhere she would go by herself willingly. But what would she do when she finally came into view of Canwood? How would she subdue him? Would Scorpius help and then leave her alone so she could take Canwood into the Headquarters?<p>

_You have a long way to go honey, _said Marta. _You haven't seen Canwood for weeks now. He's not close to being caught._

_She's got intel on him, _countered Greg. _It's close. We all can feel it. _

_Don't get complacent now. There's lots of variables at play. You still must be wary of everyone around and work efficiently. _

The voices were making her head burn.

Wary turned out to be right for when Rose reached her floor Rose Daphne was standing right below where the secret staircase to the roof was situated. She was her bedraggled self – layers upon layers of grey and black clothing, squat form with hair this time under a hairnet, and a hip pack again that looked like it was bulging with things.

Rose was about to turn around on her heels to avoid a conversation, when Daphne's gaze struck hers and she smiled a toothy smile.

"Rose dearies. You came so soon. Fancy you, fancy that," she said loudly.

Rose reluctantly stayed put. "Hi, umm, are you lost? This isn't your floor. Molly, Lucy, and Dom aren't here either."

Daphne waddled towards Rose and reached out to grab Rose's wrist just like the last time they were in proximity together. The smell was not pleasant and Daphne's eyes were crazed under the magnifying glasses. Rose pulled away and kept her hands behind her back.

"Not lost dearies. Not lost at all. I don't need all you Weasley's. Not at all. Bye dearies. And dearies, when the headaches get too bad, you come to me."

_The headaches? _Rose could do nothing but reluctantly nod. Daphne was batshit crazy and giving Rose a headache already – which she doubted Daphne would help for being the cause of it. After Daphne past her and waddled down the stairs, Rose rubbed her temples and walked into the flat. The door was unlocked she realised after walking in, and she shut the door behind her. Yet, all was quiet in the flat - no sounds of Molly or Lucy finally coming to spend a night at their place. The hair on Rose's arms rose. Her hearing was on high alert and she felt like someone was in the house. Someone who wasn't supposed to be here.

It felt like a violation. She didn't take off her shoes as she crept forward. Someone _was_ in the house, she knew it. Her heart beat faster in her chest. One step, two.

Suddenly a voice broke through the utter silence of the flat. "What the hell is taking you so long Rose?" said a familiar voice. Rose's heart jumped to her throat and she went into the living room to see Louis sitting on the couch like he lived there.

"_Fucking fuck Louis!_ What the hell?"

"Stopped by for a little chat. Thought it would be a pleasant surprise."

Rose's eyes widened as he looked at her with a smug smile. "_Louis_," she said. "Pleasant surprise? What the hell brings you here?"

His smile dropped and he rolled his eyes. "As if you don't know, Rose. The contracts – yes,_ plural_. Remember?"

Contracts? She was worried about the one that he was witness to about the blood bracelet. What other one?

"I am, of course, referring to the contract about your wand as well as the one about losing your life."

Rose pulled her arms out of her coat and thumped down in the chair across from Louis. "The wand contract, really? You said you would drop it."

"It's not me, actually. It's Albus Severus. You're lucky he's been too busy to pester you about it because he's been asking me questions to see if you're holding up the end of the deal on my end. So this is just a warning – I'm sure he'll come to you soon."

Rose breathed a sigh of relief. "That's alright. I can deal with Al. He probably won't say anything for a few more weeks at least."

Louis shrugged. There was another silence in the room and Rose looked behind her. It felt like there was someone else in the flat. Someone that wasn't Louis.

Louis voice quickly turned serious. "Rose. I think we should go to the Ministry."

Her head snapped back to his. "No."

"Just – this isn't right. You look like death. Like you haven't slept or eaten in months. I didn't take this seriously – but if_ this_ is really happening, Rose, we need to do something."

"Did a woman named Rose Daphne stop by while you were sitting in here?" she asked him. He wasn't to be deterred though.

"No. I was alone for half an hour. We really need to do something about the contract."

Rose stood up and marched to the kitchen. She opened the fridge and looked inside for something to make for supper for her and Scorpius. "Louis, I am doing something. Don't worry about it; it's not your problem. This'll all be over soon."

"Like if you lose your life? Because I've thought about it and there can only be one thing that the contract was meant for, only one outcome if you don't find this guy that you've said you'd find."

Rose glared at him. "No. I won't lose my life. I have help, alright."

"Who."

It's not like she could hide the answer from him. Anyone would be able to tell. "Scorpius Malfoy."

Her eyes were trained on his face and the reaction from it. He looked startled but had the grace to quickly hide it.

"Does Scorpius know about this contract you're obligated to finish? About how you could lose your life if you don't complete it in time?"

"No. He can't know, Louis, _alright_! Everything would be so much more messed up if anyone else knew. I don't want – pity – or anything from people. I just want to get this done. Myself. I've accepted his help and that's all it will ever be. Without him knowing anything."

She pulled out chicken, linguini, zucchini, and tomato sauce from the fridge and set a pot of water on the stove.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" Rose asked.

"Rude."

"Yes. There's nothing I can say. Alright. Just drop it and pretend nothing ever happened."

He looked up at her with hands clenched in his lap. "What do you need? I can help."

"I don't want you to get hurt through association with me. This'll have to just be how it is. I can do this. Just _don't _tell anyone."

"Who is it? I'll tell your parents and Hugo unless you tell me the name of who it is."

Rose almost slammed her fists against the counter. "What the fuck is up with people and blackmail?"

"Well you're the most stubborn person alive. You never accept help so the extremes are the only thing that work to get through to you. You'd cut off your own foot before asking for help to remove the shackle surrounding it."

_He hit the nail on the head right there, _said Greg.

_Fuck my overbearing family, _Rose thought.

_Talk him through it. He's a smart lad. He'll understand, _said Marta.

"I really appreciate this," Rose said slowly. "But I'm serious when I say I don't want any more of my family involved. Inadvertently I've affected Dom, Molly, and Lucy. And I'm really worried about that right now. I think I'm close to finding my target and ending this huge mess. It's not the type of work you're used to, and I'd rather you focus on your midterms and whatnot that you have right now for school."

Louis left the couch to join her in the kitchen, picking up a spoon and stirring the pot of water that had not yet reached a boil. Rose raised her eyebrow at him. He seemed lost in his own mind.

"I'm worried about it. I didn't take the whole thing seriously when I read the contract and didn't really realise what you were doing, but the physical effects are taking their toll on you – I don't want you to be hurt."

Rose wrapped an arm around Louis and hugged him. He felt tense and awkward with the contact.

"I've got Scorpius and you can never tell anyone I said this – but he's probably the best thing that could have happened right now. I'll be fine. It'll all turn out alright."

She let him go and actually put pasta in the water so Louis would be doing something helpful. But then he put down the spoon and leaned against the cupboard instead.

"Is he a decent bloke? I thought you hated him? Because of everything that happened at Hogwarts."

Why was she having this conversation with Louis? "He's changed. I've changed. And we've both come a long way from then. I don't know. That's the short end of it."

He shrugged. "Alright. I'll drop it then." He still had a curious look on his face though. "I really don't want to stick around for your food. I'll probably leave. Are you sure you don't want help for anything? I can research into something?"

The sudden thought that popped into Rose's head was too irresistible to ignore. "Look into the Reds Inconnu, I guess, since you're so insistent. Muggle or magical lit in the libraries might say something about them. They've apparently been around for a long time."

Louis nodded and then left her alone in the kitchen watching the linguini cook. She wasn't a great cook by any means, but that didn't mean she couldn't make something as simple as pasta. Scorpius said he'd show up around suppertime, but she didn't know if that meant he would eat or not. She strained the pasta in a colander and then mixed in the sauce.

She didn't hear any doors open, but kept glancing over her shoulder to see if anyone was behind her. She still felt like someone was in the flat, watching her. It was an eerie feeling. She looked in her and her cousins' rooms, but they were all empty – dust gathering on the unused beds. Nobody was in the flat but her … It was silent and she was alone yet she didn't feel alone. She glanced over her shoulder again.

_You're not alone, stupid. You have us, _said Greg.

_You're figments of my imagination. Unreal and a product of my clearly degenerating brain, _Rose said back. _You're making my head hurt and making me think I'm crazy. You don't belong._

_We're you, dearie. Of course we belong, _said Marta.

She couldn't argue with that, but how could she really be sure if the voices were a product of her brain and her being?

_What else would we be, love? _said Greg.

_I don't know. Malicious voices? _

Daphne's comment about headaches was too close to a problem to ignore. She had been getting a few more headaches than normal – particularly when the voices were talking. It was not a good feeling to think that Daphne had something to do with the voices. But Rose didn't even know of Daphne's existence before moving in with her cousins, so that possibility seemed extremely unlikely. And the fact that Danny, a muggle, would have voices too was just mystifying. Unless someone had snuck into their place to 'poison' them. Which would be rather easy since she didn't have any magical protections around her place then. And just now, finding Daphne on their floor right where steps to the roof were? She _had_ to be breaking into Dom's potion lab.

Rose rubbed her temples. Life was so complicated now. It had been too simple before and now it was a mess. She needed to find a happy medium after this fiasco was over. Nothing sedentary, nothing life threatening, and nothing that she was running away from.

_Normal is overrated, _said Greg.

_Fuck you, unwanted voice. _

As far as Rose knew, she and Lucy were the last ones in Dom's greenhouses and potions lab when they were looking for her, so nothing should have changed if she went up and looked now.

She covered up the food and tried to remember how it looked when she last walked in – the disrupted cauldrons, torn plants, and mess all over. Would it be different now? She wasn't sure. But if it was different then it probably meant that Daphne was stealing ingredients or doing something she wasn't supposed to. She pulled her jacket on and zipped it up to her chin before pulling down the stairs and going onto the roof.

From the higher vantage point she was seeing the sun set again. Rose stopped and stared at the glory of colours spilling out over London. It wasn't quite like seeing it from a mountain, or across an ocean, but it was still beautiful in a different way. The globe of the sun slowly went down and Rose stayed standing and staring at it. Only not enjoying it when the wind blew at the loose tendrils of her hair and caused them to stab in her eye. As soon as the sun crossed the horizon, there was nothing else to see because most of the stars in the darkening sky were not visible with the light pollution of the city.

The gravel grinded under her feet and she opened Dom's lab to an unpleasant smell of decay from the plants decomposing. On her first glance it was apparent that someone had been walking around the place. There were multiple 'new' footprints in the dried up spills that were on the floor. Much more than when she and Lucy were last in the place. Also missing were random ingredients – newt tails, a vial of teardrops, a soggy phoenix feather – that last time were strewn all over the workbench and floor.

Rose walked forwards and continued the search by looking under the tables and checking for any surprises. A light knocking on the door made her jump up and knock her head against the underside of the bench.

"Ouch, _fuck_," she said. As soon as she pulled her head out, she spun around on her feet, wand not at the ready because she sure as hell kept forgetting to carry it on her at all times.

It was just Scorpius taking in the scene. "What happened here?" he said as he walked in. His hair was damp from a fresh shower and he was wearing a pair of grey slacks and a black wind jacket. It looked sharp, but Rose could only frown at the building around her.

"Someone, and I think I know who, has broken in here and stolen supplies and potions ingredients. Well actually, it has probably occurred more than once. Lucy and I were just up here last week when we were looking for Dom and everything looks different now."

"Do you know what they stole?" He was on the ground and looking at the footprints in the dried up potions. "About a size 4 … small feet. And trainers it looks like. I'll increase the security wards on here when we leave. I'm sure there's ingredients that nobody but Dom should be tampering with. Who do you think it is?"

"Yeah that would work. I think an old lady named Rose Daphne who lives in this building a floor below us. She's completely barmy and an old potions whiz – but is under Ministry watch - or supposed to be - because of previous experimentation on humans. I've spotted her a few times standing under the stairs to get up here, but have never actually seen her on the roof."

"It's a possibility. Some of the ingredients Dom grows are illegal, so for a potions whiz it would be a goldmine," said Scorpius as he walked into the greenhouse portion. "Is she … dangerous?"

Rose picked up some broken glassware and set it on a small pile on the workbench. Maybe she'd clean up the place before Dom got home. Sweep and repair what she could.

"I don't know. I think she's connected into my mess of a life somehow, but I'm not sure where. She's certainly someone who's got more of a story than I previously thought. She's always come across as more crazy than dangerous though."

Scorpius poked his head around to look at her, a few blonde wisps falling into his face that he pushed back. "You're life isn't a mess. We'll find Canwood – I got a tip for tonight where Snakebitten members will be."

Rose gave a small grin. "I got a small tip as well. Remember Courtney who worked at Coffee for Kooks? She's finally been fired and we met up a few hours ago. She thinks Canwood will be at Pemty Tavern tonight."

Scorpius looked impressed. "That's exactly what I heard as well."

They left Dom's workstation. Standing outside, Scorpius waved his wand as he murmured under his breath a few times over the place to set up stronger wards. "I'll leave the counter charms at your place – Dom will need to know before getting back in here, but she's in the hospital so we should be fine for now anyway."

Scorpius looked deep in thought on their way down and after they dished up supper back in the flat. His eyebrows were slightly creased and his foot lightly tapping.

His gaze finally met hers and he drummed his fingers once on the table. "I'm just plotting for tonight. How do you feel about Polyjuice potion?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: What up fast(ish) update! I just want to say thank you to all my reviewers. You all are so appreciated! Much love xoxo**


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